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NEW YORK. 



THE 



HISTORY OF NEW YORK 



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BY 

WrHr^CARPENTER 

AND 

T. S. ARTHUR. 



^ll///^ 



PIIILADKLPIIIA : 

LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

1853. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

T. S. ARTHUR Airo W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 






AJ-f \ 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



There are but few persons in tliis country who 
have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an 
accurate, well written, concise, yet clear and reliable 
history of their own or some other state. 

The want here indicated is now about being sup- 
plied; and, as the task of doing so is no light or 
superficial one, the publishers have given into the 
hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in 
the title-page, the work of preparing a scries of Cabi- 
net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in 
the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we 
need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary 
world. What they undertake the public may rest 
assured will be performed thoroughly ; and that no 
sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their 
judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of 
history. 

The importance of a series of state histories like 
those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. 
Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest 
of narrative will permit, the size and price of the 
volumes will bring them within the reach of every 
family in the country, thus making them home-read- 
ing books for old and young. Each individual will, 
1* 5 



6 publishers' preface. 

in consequence, become familiar, not only with the 
history of his own state, but with that of other states : 
— thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old 
bonds cemented in a firmer union. 

In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, 
while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of 
the domestic policy of each state, will give greater 
prominence to the personal history of the people. 
The dangers which continually hovered around the 
early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed 
fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- 
fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen 
watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, 
and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- 
portant influence upon the formation of the American 
character, are to be freely recorded. AYhile the progres- 
sive development of the citizens of each individual state 
from the rough forest-life of the earlier day to the 
polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- 
ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- 
resting. 

The size and style of the series will be uniform 
with the present volume. The authors, who have 
been for some time collecting and arranging materials, 
will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their 
careful preparation will warrant. 



PREFACE. 



The history of New York, the wealthiest and, 
from its happy geographical position, the most 
important of all the confederated States, has 
hitherto been but imperfectly knoAvn even to its 
own citizens. This defective knowledge cannot 
be said to have originated from any want of 
interest on the subject, but rather from the 
difficulty of obtaining the requisite information 
within a moderate compass, and in a connected 
form ; the narrative of events being scattered 
through numerous volumes, all of which arc in 
their nature fragmentary. 

To supply this want — to place before the 
general reader a clear, succinct, and impartial 
history of the State, from its earliest settlement 
to the present day, is the object of this volume, 



8 PREFACE. 

which will not be found a mere compilation, but a 
work originally treated, and elaborated with care 
and impartiality. • Brief as it is, it yet contains 
every event of marked historical importance ; 
nothing being omitted but those obtrusive specu- 
lations, and dry legislative details, which, in a 
work intended for popular use, are neither valu- 
able nor interesting. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

Columbus — Voyages of the Cabots — John and Sebastian 
Cabot discover the Continent of North America — Voyage 
of Sebastian Cabot — His exploration of the coast — New- 
foundland fisheries — Patent from James I. to the Virginia 
Companies — Settlement of Jamestown — Voyage of Verraz- 
zani, under the auspices of James I. — Sails from Madeira 
— Reaches America — Lands in North Carolina — Friendli- 
ness of the savages — Their humanity — A child kidnapped 
— Arrival of Verrazzani at Sandy Hook — His description — 
Conference with the natives — Bay of New York — Harbour 
of Newport — Description of the natives — Exploration inland 
— Departure for Europe — Claims of France — Cartier and 
Roberval — First permanent French settlement — Quebec 
founded by Champlain — The Five Nations — Policy of Cham- 
plain — Joins a war-party of Hurons and Algonquins — Dis- 
covery of Lake Champlain — Defeat of the Iroquois — The 
consequence Page 19 

CHAPTER IL 

Voyage of Henry Hudson — Attempts to reach Nova Zembla 
— Is impeded by ice — Ranges the North American coast 
southward — Reaches Penobscot — Trades with the natives — 
Attacks and plunders them — Rounds Cape Cod — la blown 
off the Capes of Virginia — Returns north — Discovers Dela- 
ware Bay — Enters Sandy Hook — Death of Colman — Disco- 
vers the Great North or Hudson River — Explores it — The 
Palisades— West Point— The Catskills— Traffic with the 
natives — Their hospitality — The exploration continued — 
Hudson arrives in the vicinity of Albany — Is visited by 
numbers of the Indians — Singular expedient to tost their 
friendliness — Scene of intoxication — The Iroquois tradition 
concerning it — Return of Hudson — An Indian killed — Am- 
bush near Hiirlem River — Skirmish with the Manliattans 
-Departure 29 

CHAPTER IIL 

Hudson returns to Europe — Reaches Dartmouth — Communi- 
cates with his employers — Sails on a new voyage of disco- 
very — Enters Hudson's Bay— Reaches its southern limit — 
Searches for an outlet — Is frozen in — Scarcity of his provi- 



10 CONTENTS. 



sions — Mutinous condition of his crew — He sails for the 
mouth of the bay — Mutiny — Abandonment of Hudson and 
his companions — Signal retribution — The Dutch traflfic with 
the IntUans — Captain Argall — New explorations — Blok 
coasts Long Island — Discovers the Housatonic and Con- 
necticut Rivers — Returns with Christiaanse to Manhattan 
— Fortified posts erected at Manhattan and Albany — May 
examines the Delaware Bay — Alliance with the Iro- 
quois Page 43 

CHAPTER IV. 
The English Puritans in Holland — First project of a settle- 
ment — Agents sent to England to treat with the Virginia 
Company — Embarkation at Delfthaven — The Mayflower — 
Accidents to the Speedwell — Arrival off Cape Cod — Ply- 
mouth settled — Dutch West India Company incorporated — 
Forts built on the Hudson and the Delaware — Arrival of 
Governor Minuits — The first colonists of New Netherland — 
Increase of the fur trade — Commercial relations with New 
Plymouth — Embassy of De Razier — Dutch scheme of colo- 
nization — Provision concerning Patroons — Swanandael 
purchased — Pavonia — Rensselaerwyck — Colony of De Vries 
near Cape Henlopen — Its massacre by the savages — Return 
of De Vries — The colony re-established — Removal of Mi- 
nuits — Administration of "W^ outer Van TwUler — Trading- 
post established on the Connecticut — Emigration to New 
England — Settlements on the Connecticut — Difficulties with 
the Patroons — The manors of Pavonia and Swanandael re- 
vert to the company — Removal of Van TwiUer — William 
Ivieft appointed governor 52 

CHAPTER V. 

Difficulties of Governor Kieft — Delaware settled by the 
Swedes — Arrival of Minuits — Fort built on Christiana Creek 
— Action of Dutch West India Company — Occupation of 
Long Island by the Puritans — Fort Nassau reoccupied — 
Indian disturbances — A retaliatory murder — Kieft demands 
the fugitive — Preparations for war — Failure of the first ex- 
pedition against the Raritans — Trouble with the Hacken- 
sacks — Two Hollanders murdered — Indemnity offered and 
refused — Massacre of the Raritans and Hackeusaeks — Con- 
federation of the river tribes — Indian war — Deplorable con- 
dition of the Dutch — Long Island and Manhattan devastated 
— Unpopularity of Kieft — Attempt upon his life — Negotia- 
tions for peace — Speech of an Indian chief — Renewal of 
the war — Expeditions of Underbill — Destruction of Indians 
at Tappan and on Long Island — Interposition of the Mo- 
hawks — Treaty of peace 67 



CONTENTS. 11 



CHAPTER VI. 
Close of the Indian Tvar — Unpopularity of Kicft — His recall 
and shipwreck — Governor Stuyvesant — Condition of New 
Netherland — Beaverswyck— New Amsterdam— Negotiations 
with New England — Provisional treaty — War between Eng- 
land and Holland — Prudent policy of Massachusetts — The 
Dutch solicit assistance from the Narragansetts — Reply of 
one of their chiefs — Swedish settlements on the Delaware — 
FortCassimer erected — Contentions with the Swedes — Cap- 
ture of Fort Cassimer — Reduction of the Swedish province 
by Stuyvesant — Flourishing condition of New Netherland — 
Internal dissensions — Arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant — Claims 
of Maryland — Sale of Delaware to the city of Amsterdam — 
Political privileges granted by Stuyvesant — Patent of 
Charles II. to the Duke of York — English force sent to 
take possession of New Netherland — Surrender of the 
province Page 78 

CHAPTER VII. 
New Netherland becomes New York — Colonel Nichols go- 
vernor — Meeting on Long Island — Incorporation of the 
city of New York — Arbitrary system of government esta- 
blished — Lovelace appointed governor — War with the 
Dutch — New York reconquered — Administration of Colve 
— Retrocession of New York — Government of Andros — Dif- 
ficulties with Connecticut — Spirited conduct of the Puritans 
— Disafifection of the people — A representative government 
demanded — Re^ily of the Duke of York — Description of the 
province — Its prosperity — City of New York, its population 
and public buildings — Character of the people — Andros re- 
called — Dongan appointed governor — Concession of political 
privileges — Indian affairs — Convention at All)any — Designs 
of the French — IiL-^tructions of the Duke of York — Conduct 
of Dongan — Invasion of the Five Nations by the French — 
Peace solicited — Speech of Do la Rarre — Reply of Garran- 
gula 90 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Canadian affairs — Denonville supersedes De la Rarre — Pro- 
pares for war — Marches against the Iroquois — la attacked 
— Retires into Canada — Fate of the French garrison at Nia- 
gara — Retaliation of the Irociuois — Negotiations for peace 
— Reply of Governor Dongan — Speech of (Jarrangula — 
Council at Montreal — Stratagem of the Dinondadio Indians 
— Renewal of hostilities — Dreadful massacre of the French 
— Affairs of New York — Disaffe<;tion in England — Landing 
of William, Prince of Orange — Flight of .lainos — Revolu- 
tion in the provinces — Dongan recalled — Agitation in Now 



12 CONTENTS. 



York — The fort seized by Leisler — William and Mary pro- 
claimed — Leisler governor — Count Frontenac appointed 
governor of Canada — Negotiates with the Five Nations — 
War between England and France — Burning of Schenec- 
tady — Difficulties in New York Page 105 

CHAPTER IX. 

Invasion of Canada resolved upon — Failure of the expedition 
— Arrival of Ingoldsby at New York — The fort blockaded 
— Arrival of Governor Sloughter — Arrest of Leisler and his 
council — Leisler and Milbourne tried and sentenced to 
death — Their execution — Appeal to the king by the son of 
Leisler — Report of the commissioners — Appeal to parlia- 
ment — Reversal of the sentence against Leisler and Mil- 
bourne — Death of Sloughter — Fletcher appointed governor 
— His character — Frontenac invades the country of the 
Five Nations — His march from Montreal — Falls upon the 
Mohawk villages — Returns to Canada — Activity of Schuy- 
ler — Of Fletcher — His popularity with the Indians — Con- 
vention at Albany — Conduct of Fletcher toward the pro- 
vincial assembly — Resistance of the latter — Activity of 
Frontenac — Invades the Onondagas — Torture of an aged 
chief — Meagre results of the expedition 118 

CHAPTER X. 

Arrival of Bellamont— Ordered to suppress piracy on the coast 
— Fletcher discountenanced — Exultation of the popular party 
— Captain Kidd commissioned to apprehend the pirates — 
Turns pirate himself— Appears in Boston — Is arrested and 
sent to England for trial — Commotion in England — Address 
of Bellamont to the assembly — His popularity— Engages in 
a controversy with Frontenac — French treaty with the In- 
dians — Law passed by the assembly against Roman Catho- 
lic priests — Death of Bellamont — Nanfan lieutenant-go- 
vernor — Appointment of Cornbury — His character — 
Attaches himself to the Royalists — Is granted a donation — 
Second intercolonial war — Money appropriated for fortify- 
ing the Narrows — Embezzled by Cornbury — Difficulties 
with the assembly — Distrust of Cornbury — His profligate 
career — Petitions for his recall — Arrival of Lord Lovelace 
— Cornbury arrested for debt — His return to England 130 

CHAPTER XL 

Lovelace demands of the assembly a permanent revenue — An 
annual grant substituted — Death of Lovelace — Administra- 
tion of Ingoldsby — Abortive attempt to invade Canada — 
Discontent of New York — Address to Queen Anne — Colonel 
Schuyler repairs to England, accompanied by five Mohawk 
chiefs— Reception of the latter in London — Their interview 



CONTENTS. 13 



with the Queen — Governor Hunter arrives at New York — 
The assembly refractory — Expedition against Canada — Its 
shameful failure — Activity of De Vaudreuil — The provin- 
cial troops disbanded — Indignation of England and the co- 
lonies — Charges brought against St. John and Ilarcourt — 
Controversy between Hunter and the assembl}' in relatiou 
to a permanent revenue — The point carried by the governor 
— Gloomy condition of the province — Negro insurrection — 
Peace of Utrecht — Permanent revenue granted — Hunter's 
popularity — His return to England Paye 140 

CHAPTER XXL 
Arrival of Governor Burnet — His character — Old assembly 
continued — Sale of Indian goods to the French prohibited 
— Mercantile opposition — Petition to the king — Reply of 
Colden and Alexander — Activity of the French — Indian 
policy of Burnet — Fort Oswego built — Administrative tlifB- 
culties — Alienation of Schuyler, Philips, and Delancey — New 
assembly demanded by the people — Removal of Burnet to 
the government of Massachusetts — Montgomery appointed 
governor — Harmonizes with the assembly — Meets the In- 
dians in convention at Albany — Fort Oswego threatened — 
Burnet's Indian policy repudiated — Boundary fixed between 
New York and Connecticut — Seizure of Crown Point by the 
French — Cosby succeeds Montgomery — Ingratiates himself 
with the assembly — A free school established — Violent and 
arbitrary conduct of Cosby — Political quarrels — Imprison- 
ment of Zenger, printer of the Weekly Journal — His trial — 
Defended by Hamilton, of Philadelphia — Liberty of the 
press vindicated — Illegal career of Co^b}' — His sudden 
death — Bitter party feuds — Clarke appointed lieutenant- 
governor 155 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Character of Lieutenant-governor Clarke — His policy — Con- 
duct of the provincial r>arty — Their rej>ly to his opening 
address — Extraordinary issue of paper money — Disfran- 
chisement of the Jews — Snare laid for the jjopular leaders 
— Its success — Permanent revenue refused — Negro plot in 
New York — Terror of the citizens — Evidence of Mary Bur- 
ton — The conspiracy doubted — Judicial murder of Ury — 
Arrival of Governor Clinton — His (luarnl with Cliief Jus- 
tine Delancey — Difiiculties with the assembly — War between 
p]ngland and France — Activity of the French — Capture of 
Louisburg — Settlements around Saratoga ravaged — Inva- 
sion of Canada projected — Assembling of the provincial 
levies — Boston menaced by a French fleet — Subsidence of 
the alarm — Political feuds in New York — The village of 

Saratoga burned — Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 167 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Treaty -with the Six Nations — Shirley's conspiracy — Action 
of Clinton — His violent disputes with the assembly — De- 
mands a permanent revenue — Their able reply — Clinton 
appeals to the English government — Movements of Shirley 
and Belcher — Walpole's bill to strengthen the king's pre- 
rogative — Colonial protests — Its defeat in parliament — 
Cautious policy of New York — Dismissal of Colden — Clin- 
ton's letters to the Board of Trade — Taxation by parliament 
suggested — Encroachments of the French — Exploration of 
the Ohio valley — Attempt to restrict the limits of Acadia — 
Patent of the Ohio company — Trading house built at 
Brownsville — Indian council at Albany — Duquesne de- 
scends into the valley of the Ohio — Alarm of the western 
Indians — Instructions from England — Sir Danvers Osborne 
appointed governor of New York — His character, conduct, 
and death Page 178 

CHAPTER XV. 

Lieutenant-Governor Delancey — Royal instructions — Course 
of the assembly — George Washington — Movements of the 
French — First skirmish — Death of Jumonville — Surrender 
of Fort Necessity — Congress at Albany — Franklin's plan of 
union — Rejected by the colonies — Disaffection in New York 
— Establishment of a college — Liberal grants by the assem- 
bly for the defence of the frontiers — General Braddock ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief — Congress of governors at 
Alexandria — Plan of campaign — Success in Nova Scotia — 
Rout of Braddock's army — His death — CroAvn Point expe- 
dition — Fort Edward built — Approach of Dieskau — Skir- 
mish with the provincials — Battle of Lake George — Rout of 
the French — Capture of Dieskau — Honours awarded to 
.Johnson by parliament — Neglect of Lyman — Inactivity of 
Johnson — Fort William Henry built — Niagara expedition 
— Reverses and disappointments of Shirley — Sickness of 
troops — Fort Oswego built 190 

CHAPTER XVL 
Sir Charles Hardy appointed governor of New York — His 
popularity — Congress of governors — Expeditions agreed 
upon against Crown Point, Forts Niagara and Duquesne — 
Surprise of Ticonderoga proposed by Shirley — Rejected by 
New York — Action of the assembly — Taxation for revenue 
resorted to — War formally declared against France — Ob- 
noxious acts passed in England — Arrival of Abercrombie — 
Assembling of the troops — Arrival of Loudoun — Activity of 
Montcalm — Oswego attacked — Death of Mercer — Capitu- 
lation of Forts Ontario and Oswego — Loudoun abandons 



CONTENTS. 15 



oflFensive operations — Quarrels with the citizens of New 
York — Campaign of 1757 — Futile expedition to Louisburg 
— Siege of Foi't William Henry — Spirited defence of Mon- 
roe — Surrender of the garrison — Indian outrages — Conduct 
of Webb — Of Loudoun — Campaign of 1758 — Energetic 
course of Pitt — Louisburg captured — Abcrcrombie repulsed 
before Ticonderoga — Fort Frontenac surprised and captured 
by Bradstreet — Forbes marches against Fort Duquesne — 
Its abandonment by the French Page 204 

CHAPTER XVIL 

Campaign of 1759 — Plan of conquest — Prideaux marches 
against Fort Niagara — Invests it — Is killed — Attempts of 
the French to raise the siege — Their defeat — Capitulation 
of the garrison — March of Amherst — Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point deserted — Wolfe sails for Quebec — Takes pos- 
session of the Isle of Orleans — Quebec — Its situation and 
defences — Defended by Montcalm — Ilis encampment — 
Attempt to fire the British fleet frustrated — Occupation of 
Point Levi — Wolfe encamps on the east bank of tho Mont- 
morenci — Battle of Montmorenci — The English repulsed — 
Murray ordered up the St. Lawrence — The Heights of Abra- 
ham — Plan of attack — Daring movement of "Wolfe — Its suc- 
cess — Incredulity of Montcalm — Preparations for battle — 
The English victorious — Death of Wolfe — Montcalm mor- 
tally wounded — Capitulation of Quebec — De Levi attempts " 
to recapture it — Capture of Montreal — Final conquest of 
Canada 221 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

Retention of Canada determined upon — Spain joins France 
against England — Treaty of Fontainebleau — Death of De- 
lancey — Administration of Colden — Monckton appointed 
governor — Ordered to Martinique — Independence of the 
Judiciary struck at — Alarm of New York — Difficulties be- 
tween New York and New Hampshire — Financial embar- 
rassment of England — Action of the ministry — Stamp-tax 
passed — Its reception in New York — Colden burned in 
effigy — Stamp-tax repealed — Townsend's scheme of taxa- 
tion — Action of the colonies — Pusillanimous conduct of tho 
Now York Assembly — Alexander McDougal —His imprison- 
ment and popuhirity — Rapid increase of New York in popu- 
lation and wealth — Dunmore appointed governor — Removed 
to Virginia — Transfers tho government to Tryoti — Regula- 
tors in North Carolina — Their defeat — Disturbances respect- 
ing the New Hampshire grunts — Resistance to state authority 
— Tea sent to America — Proceedings of tho colonics — Con- 
gress at Philadelphia— Battle of Lexington 237 



16 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Effect of the battle of Lexington — Doubtful position of New 
York — Ticonderoga and Crown Point seized — Descent of 
Arnold upon St. John's — War formally declared — Acts of 
the Provincial Congress — Opposition of the loyalists — 
Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the American 
forces — Other appointments — Battle of Bunker Hill — Con- 
gress determines upon an effectual blockade of Boston — 
Washington assumes the chief command — Return of Go- 
vernor Tryon to New York — State of political parties — 
Seizure of military stores at Turtle Bay — Removal of guns 
from the Battery at New York — Unpopularity of Tryon — 
He takes refuge on board the Asia man-of-war — Invasion 
of Canada — Surrender of Forts Chambly and St. John — 
Capitulation of Montreal — Montgomery forms a junction 
with Arnold — Assault of Quebec — Death of Montgomery — 
Evacuation of Canada — Disturbances in New York — Riving- 
ton's Gazette — Lee ordered to assist in defending the city — 
Disaffection of the Johnsons — Joseph Brant — Declaration 
of Independence Page 252 

CHAPTER XX. 

Evacuation of Boston — Washington at New York — His em- 
barrassments — Discovery of a plot to seize his person — 
Approach of General Howe — The British encamp on Staten 
Island — Arrival of Admiral Lord Howe with reinforcements 
— American defences at Brooklyn — Landing of the British 
on Long Island — Battle of Long Island, and defeat of Put- 
nam — Washington encamps at Harlem — Howe takes pos- 
session of York Island — Disgraceful flight of the American 
militia — New York evacuated — Skirmish at Harlem — Seri- 
ous conflagration in the city — Military and naval operations 
of the British — The Americans encamp at White Plains — 
Defeat of McDougal — Capture of Fort Washington — Aban- 
donment of Fort Lee — Retreat of Washington through the 
Jerseys — Crosses the Delaware at Trenton — Situation of 
the northern army — Crown Point evacuated — Advance of 
Carleton — Battle on Lake Champlain 262 

CHAPTER XXL 

New York Congress — State government established — Cam- 
paign of 1777 — Howe's movements — Battle of Brandywine 
— Of Germantown — Burgoyne's invasion — His successful 
advance — Takes possession of Ticonderoga — Retreat of St. 
Clair — Evacuation of Skenesborough — Of Fort Anne — 
Weakness of the northern army under Schuyler — Fort Ed- 
ward abandoned — Schuyler crosses the Hudson — Advance 
of Burgoyne — Fort Schuyler besieged by St. Leger — Bloody 



CONTENTS. 17 



skirmish with Ilorkimer — Death of Herkimer — Arnold ad- 
vances to the relief of Fort Schuyler — Success of his strata- 
gem — St. Leger deserted by the Indians — Breaks up the 
*siege — Battle of Bennington — Defeat of Baum and Brey- 
man — Schuyler superseded by Gates — Condition of Bur- 
goyne — Crosses the Hudson — First battle of Behmus's 
Heights — Second battle of Behmus's Heights — Retreat of 
Burgoyne to Saratoga — Provisions captured on the Hudson 
— British council of war — Surrender of Burgoyne I^ag^ 276 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Clinton's diversion in favour of Burgoyne — First meeting of 
the State legislature at Kingston — France and the United 
States — Effects of Burgoyne's surrender — Conciliatory pro- 
positions from Lord North — Treaty of alliance between 
France and the United Colonies — Howe abandons Phila- 
delphia, and retreats to New York — Arrival of a French 
fleet — D'Estaing offers to co-operate in the reduction of 
Newport — Puts out to sea — Americans retire from before 
Newport — War on -the frontiers — Massacre at Wyoming — 
American expedition against Unadilla — Indian incursion 
into Cherry Valley — Campaign of 1779 — Predatory incur- 
sions by the enemy — Capture of Stony Point by the British 
— Recapture by Wayne — Sullivan's expedition against the 
Indians — Exploration and destruction of the Indian villages 
in the Genesee Valley — Campaign of 1781 — South Carolina 
overrun by the enemy — Defeat of Gates — Arrival of Rocham- 
beau at Rhode Island — Treason of Benedict Arnold — Exe- 
cution of Andre — Virginia ravaged byf-Arnold and Phillips 
— Operations of Cornwallis — Battle of the Cowpens — Battle 
of Guilford Courthouse — Greene recrosses the Dan — Corn- 
wallis enters Virginia — Takes post at Yorktown — Siege of 
Yorktown — Capitulation 289 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

A national convention called — Influence of New York — 
Action of the state in regard to the import duties — Meeting 
of the national convention — Adoption of the Federal Con- 
stitution — Action of the Anti-Federalist party in New York 
— Popularity of Clinton — Fierce party feu<ls — Jay elected 
governor — Reception of his treaty with (Jreat Britain — 
Hamilton insulted — Ro-elcction of Jay — Foreign relations 
of the United States — Alien and Sedition laws — Clinton 
elected governor — Aaron Burr — His quarrel with Hamilton 
— Death of Hamilton — Proscription of Burr — His western 
journeys — Ili.-i arrost, trial, and acquit t;il — Subsequent life 
— Increasing foreign diflieulties — Dritisli orders in council 
— Berlin and Milan decrees — American Embargo Act — Col- 
2* 



18 CONTENTS. 



lision between tlie frigate President and British sloop-of- 
war Little Belt — War declared — 111 success of the American 
forces at the north — Important naval victories — Americans 
defeated at the River Raisin — Capture of York, Upper Ca- 
nada — Forts George and Edward abandoned by the British 
— Defeat of Boerstler — Victory at Sackett's Harbour — Per- 
ry's victory on~ Lake Erie — Naval successes and disasters — 
Battle of the Thames — Defeat of the Creeks by Jackson — 
Battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater — Capture of the Capi- 
tol — Death of Ross— Battle of Plattsburg— McDonough's 
victory on Lake Champlain — Battle of New Orleans — 
Peace declared Page 305 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Political aspirations of De Witt Clinton — The Tammany 
Society — Its origin — Opposed to Clinton — Tompkins elected 
governor — Chosen vice-president — Clinton governor — Con- 
struction of the Erie Canal authorized — Decline of the old 
Federal party — Origin of the "Bucktails" — Clin ton re-elect- 
ed governor — Van Buren chosen United States Senator — 
Revision of the state constitution — Principal amendments 
adopted — Yates elected governor — Division of the Demo- 
cratic party — Organization of the "People's party" — Remo- 
val of Clinton as canal commissioner — Re-elected governor 
— Subversion of the old political parties — Abduction of Mor- 
gan — Masons and Anti-Masons — New organizations — For- 
mation of the Whig and Jackson parties — Death of Governor 
Clinton — Van Buren elected governor — Rise and decline of 
the " Workingman's party" — Throop elected governor — 
Marcy chosen — " Equal rights" party organized — How de- 
signated by the Whigs — Merged into the Democratic party 
— Marcy re-elected governor — Financial embarrassments — 
Increasing strength of the AVhigs — Seward elected governor 
— Party fluctuations — Bouck elected governor — Election of 
Wright — Anti-Rent disturbances — Their origin — Progress 
of the disaffection — Tumults in Delaware county — Murder 
of the sheriff— Military called out — Arrest and imprison- 
ment of the rioters — Breach in the Democratic party — 
"Hunkers" and ''Barnburners" — Revision of the constitu- 
tion — Young elected governor — Election of Fish — Conclusion 323 



HISTORY OF :N'E¥ YORK. 



CHAPTER I. 

Columbus — Voyages of the Cabots — John and Sebastian Cabot 
discover the Continent of North America — Voyage of Sebas- 
tian Cabot — His exploration of the coast — Newfoundland 
fisheries — Patent from James I. to the Virginia Companies 
— Settlement of Jamestown — Voyage of Verrazzani, under 
the auspices of James I. — Sails from Madeira — Reaches Ame- 
rica — Lands in North Carolina — Friendliness of the savages 
— Their humanity — A child kidnapped — Arrival of Verraz- 
zani at Sandy Hook — His description — Conference with the 
natives — Bay of New York — Harbour of Newport — Descrip- 
tion of the natives — Exploration inland — Departure for 
Europe — Claims of France — Cartier and Roberval — -First 
permanent r'rench settlement — Quebec founded by Cham- 
plain — The Five Nations — Policy of Champlain — Joins a 
war-party of Hurons and Algoncjuins — Discovery of Lake 
Champlain-^Defeat of the Irofjuois — The consequence. 

Five years after tlie discovery of the Bahamas 
by Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, a native 
of Venice, and an expert navigator, then residing 
at Bristol, in England, was authorized, by letters 
patent from Henry the Seventh, to take five 
English ships, in any haven or havens of the 
realm, to explore the seas east, west, or north, in 
search of any countries hitherto unknown to 
Christians, and to plant the English banner on 
any part of the land tlius newly found. 

19 



20 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1498. 

Under this license, John Cabot, accompanied 
by his son Sebastian, subsequently celebrated as 
a daring mariner, left Bristol in the early part 
of May, 1497, and on the 24th of June, first came 
in sight of the continent of North America. 

On reaching the coast, which is supposed to 
have been that of Labrador, they found it rocky 
and sterile, abounding with the white polar bear, 
and with deer far larger than any they had ever 
seen before. After satisfying themselves that 
this cheerless region was inhabited only by 
savages clothed in the skins of beasts, and armed 
with the primitive weapons of bows and clubs, the 
Cabots returned to England with the tidings of 
their success. 

The following year a second expedition was 
fitted out, the command of which was given to 
Sebastian Cabot. Being furnished with several 
small vessels, freighted with such articles of mer- 
chandise as were thought jbest suited for purposes 
of trafiic with an uncivilized people, he again em- 
barked for the newly-discovered land, and after 
a voyage of several weeks, approached the conti- 
nent in the latitude of fifty-eight degrees. 

Proceeding north, he penetrated that portion 
of the arctic region since known as Hudson's Bay ; 
when, finding his further progress seriously ob- 
structed by masses of floating ice, he yielded to 
the loudly-exj)ressed fears of his men, and shaping 
his course southward, sailed along the shore until 



1606.] EARLY COLONIZATION. 21 

ho reached the southern Ihnit of Maryland. Af- 
ter having thus ranged the coast through thh'ty 
degrees of hititude, his provisions growing short, 
he sailed for Enirland. It was from these two 

o 

voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot, that Great 
Britain acquired the title to nearly the whole 
continent of North America. 

For upward of a century, however, no ad- 
vantage was derived from the discoveries thus 
made, beyond the establishment of fisheries off 
the coast of Newfoundland. The first successful 
attempt at colonization was made in 1606, Avhen 
James the First, disregarding all previous pa- 
tents, granted to two rival associations of adven- 
turers, embodied under the respective titles of 
the London and Plymouth Companies, permission 
to settle plantations on any part of the North 
American continent lying between the thirty- 
fourth and forty-fifth degree of north latitude. 

The settlement of the London, or South Vir- 
ginia colony, was to be made at any point be- 
tween Cape Fear and Long Island, while that of 
the Plymouth, or North Virginia colony, was 
restricted to the region embraced between Dela- 
ware Bay and Halifax. 

The following year, three small vessels, bearing 
one hundred and five colonists, sent out to Vir- 
ginia by the London Companj^, entered the 
Chesapeake Bay, and after exploring the James 
Ilivcr, selected a small peninsuhi, thirty-two 



22 HISTOKY OF NEW YOEK. [1524. 

miles from its mouth, where, on the 13th of May^ 
1607, they laid the foundation of Jamestown. 
No settlement was made by the Plymouth Com- 
pany until thirteen years afterward. 

Profiting by the discoveries of Cabot, French 
mariners, from the ports of Brittany and Nor- 
mandy, sailed early to the coast of Newfoundland, 
where they shared with the English in the lucra- 
tive fisheries of that region. 

Desirous of opening a wider field of commerce 
for his subjects, and, perhaps, emulous of the 
renown acquired through their discoveries by 
England and Spain, Francis the First ordered 
John Verrazzani, a Florentine mariner, to take 
command of four vessels, and explore the region 
concerning which so many marvellous stories 
were circulating throughout Europe. 

Three of his vessels, having become separated 
in a storm, Verrazzani sailed from the island of 
Madeira on the 17th of June, 1524, with one 
small caravel, containing fifty men and provisions 
for eight months. After weathering with great 
difiiculty a fierce tempest, he succeeded, at the 
end of fifty days, in approaching a low sandy 
shore, which, from the numerous fires scattered 
along the coast, he concluded to be thickly in- 
habited. Running southward fifty leagues without 
finding a harbour, he turned again toward the 
north, and anchored in latitude 34°, ofi" the coast 
of North Carolina. A large concourse of the 



1524.] VERRAZZANl'S VOYAGE. 23 

natives immediately collected on the beach, and, 
encouraged by tlieir evident friendliness, Verraz- 
zani ventured to land for a short time and take 
a closer survey of the country. Re-embarking, 
he continued his course to the north, everywhere 
greeted with signals of w^elcome by groups of 
savages gathered admiringly on the shore. Nor 
were they less humane than hospitable. One of 
the sailors, in an attempt to swim to them with a 
few presents, being thrown by a heavy sea half 
dead upon the beach, was caught up in the arms 
of the savages, and borne to a place of safety. 
Soothing his fears by gentle caresses, they kin- 
dled a fire to facilitate his recovery, and after 
drying his clothes, led him with many an aifec- 
tionate embrace back to the beach. They then 
retired to an eminence, from whence they kept an 
anxious watch until they saw him return in safety 
to the ship. 

Proceeding north fifty leagues, Verrazzani 
anchored off the seaboard of Maryland, and sent 
twenty men on shore to explore the country. 
They penetrated inland some six miles, but the 
natives had fled affrighted deeper into the forest. 
Hidden in the long grass they found two women 
and six children. Tliey seized one of the hitter 
to take with them to France, and attempted also 
to bear off tlic younger of tlie women, who was tall 
of stature and very beautiful ; but fearing her out- 
cries would endanger their safety, they released 



24 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1524- 

her, and kidnapped the child only. After this 
outrage, so strikingly in contrast with the guile- 
less tenderness exhibited by those who were called 
barbarians, Verrazzani kept coasting northward 
until he arrived at Sandy Hook, " a very pleasant 
place, situate among certain little steep hills, 
from amidst which there ran down into the sea 
an exceeding great stream of water, which within 
the mouth was very deep, and from the sea to 
the mouth of the same, with the tide — which they 
found to rise eight feet — any great ship laden 
might pass up." When they had held a brief 
conference with the natives by signs, and had 
sufficiently admired the beautiful bay of New 
York, which Verrazzani describes as ^'a most 
pleasant lake, about three leagues in compass," 
the anchor was again weighed, and dropped within 
the fine semi-circular harbour of Newport, where 
they met ''the goodliest people, and of the fairest 
conditions," of any they had found in their voy- 
age. They were of noble proportions, some " of 
the colour of brass, and some inclining to white- 
ness ; black and quick eyed, of sweet and pleasant 
countenance, imitating much the old fashion." 

During the fifteen days they remained at this 
place, exploring parties, guided by the hospitable 
savages, often ventured five or six leagues inland, 
where they found extensive plains, the soil of 
which was very fertile, and forests ''so great and 
thick tha,t any army, were it never so great, might 



1608.] CARTIER — KOBERVAL — CHAMPLAIN. 25 

have hid itself therem ;" the trees being of oak and 
cypress, and of other kinds unknown in Europe. 

Taking leave of the courteous and charitable 
inhabitants of Rhode Island, Yerrazzani, still 
coasting northward, sailed along the shores of 
New England, and at length terminated his ex- 
plorations at the island of Newfoundland, after 
having ranged the North American continent for 
a distance of seven hundred leagues. In July, 
1524, he reached the port of Dieppe, from whence 
he wrote to the king an account of his remarka- 
ble voyage; and upon the discoveries alleged to 
have been made by him at this time, the claims 
of France to a wide extent of territory on the 
Western continent were subsequently founded. 

The voyages of Cartier and Roberval followed. 
The river St. Lawrence was discovered by the 
former in 1534, and various efforts at colonization 
were subsequently made, all of which proved un- 
successful, until the spring of 1605, when the first 
permanent French settlement was established at 
Port Royal, on the island of Nova Scotia. In 
1608, the energetic Cbamplain founded Quebec. 
The following year, being desirous of securing 
the friendship of the Algonquins and Ilurons, he 
joined them in an expedition against the Iro- 
quois, or Five Nations, a powerful confederacy, 
which had been for many years a terror to the 
surrounding tribes. 

When Champhun first entered Canada, this 

3 



26 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1608. 

renowned confederacy, consisting of the Mohawk, 
Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations of 
Indians, occupied, by conquest from the Mohican 
tribes, the middle, northern, and western portions 
of the territory which was subsequently included 
within the limits of the province of New York. 

Knowing how formidable the proximity of this 
haughty and warlike Indian republic would be to 
a feeble French colony, settled on their imme- 
diate borders, he conceived the design of humbling 
the power of the Iroquois, by rendering assist- 
ance to their hostile but weaker neighbours, and 
of inducing them by this means to unite in a gene- 
ral league of amity with the French. 

Influenced by what appeared to be the wisdom 
of this policy, he joined a war-party of his savage 
allies, and leaving Quebec, then an insignificant 
villao;e, consistino; of a few scattered cotta^^es in 
the midst of newly-cleared fields and gardens, 
ascended the river Sorel to the rapids near 
Chambly. Notwithstanding he had been kept in 
utter ignorance of this obstruction to the course 
of his vessel, he determined to proceed. Sending 
most of his party back to Quebec, he crossed the 
portage with his allies, and re-embarked in one 
of their frail canoes, attended only by two Eu- 
ropeans. After travelling in this manner for 
several days, he entered, for the first time, the 
lake which now bears his name, and traversing 
its whole extent, suddenly discovered near Ti- 



1608.] INDIAN BATTLE. 27 

conderoga a number of canoes filled with Iro- 
quois. Both parties with wild shouts of exulta- 
tion pulled rapidly for the shore, where they com- 
menced selecting their gromid for the battle. As 
it was then late in the night, the Iroquois, in 
answer to a challenge from the allies, declined 
fighting until the next day, when they could see 
themselves. 

In the gray of the following morning, Cham- 
plain placed his two countrymen, supported by a 
small detachment of savages, in ambush, on the 
flank of the enemy. Both parties wxre about two 
hundred strong; but the Iroquois, being uncon- 
scious of the powerful aid which the Hurons and 
Algonquins had received in the firearms of the 
Europeans, were confident of an easy victory. 
Previous to the onset, Champlain had been re- 
quested by his allies to single out the three 
leaders of the enemy, who could readily be dis- 
tinguished from their followers by the superior 
size of their feathered ornaments. This having 
been arranged, the Huron and Algonquin war- 
riors sounded the war-whoop, and, darting out in 
a body from their cover of fallen timber, advanced 
some two hundred feet in front of the enemy, and 
then, deflecting to the right and left, displayed 
to the astonished gaze of the Iroquois the first 
white man they had ever beheld, clad in strange 
apparel, and armed with weapons of singular 
shape and unknown power. But their amazement 



28 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1608. 

was changed into extreme terror, when they saw 
fire issue from the levelled tube, first from the 
arquebuss of Champlain in the centre, and then 
from those of his two companions on the flank, 
and beheld two of their chiefs fall dead, and the 
third reel back dangerously wounded. The allies 
charged immediately, and the Iroquois, after re- 
ceiving a few more vollies from the Frenchmen, 
fled panic-stricken from the field. In the pur- 
suit many were killed, and some few prisoners 
were taken. At length the victors desisted from 
following the fugitive enemy any longer, and re- 
turning to the field of battle, passed two hours in 
celebrating their triumph, by songs and dances. 
Not a single one of the allies had been killed, and 
but very few wounded. Satisfied with their suc- 
cess, they now returned homeward ; but amused 
themselves with torturing one of their prisoners 
by the way. Shocked at the horrible barbarities 
to which he was a witness, Champlain suddenly 
put an end to the agony of the sufi'erer, by de- 
spatching him with his own hand. 

Such was the commencement of the feud be- 
tween the Iroquois and the French. The policy 
of Champlain, carried out in several similar ex- 
peditions during the succeeding year, instead of 
humbling the Five Nations to sue for peace, in- 
stigated them to revenge, and engendered that 
intense hatred of the Canadian colonists, which 
made them fast allies of the Dutch and English, 



1G09.] HENRY nUDSON. 29 

during the whole period that the French retained 
possession of the northern territory. 



CHAPTER II. 



Voyage of Henry Hudson — Attempts to reach Nova Zembla — ■ 
Is impeded by ice — Ranges the North American coast south- 
ward — Reaches Penohscot^ — Trades with the natives — At- 
tacks and plunders them — Rounds Cape Cod — Is blown olF 
the Capes of Virginia — Returns north — Discovers Delaware 
Bay — Enters Sandy Hook — Death of Colman — Discovers 
the Great North or Hudson River — Explores it — The Pali- 
sades — West Point — The Catskills — Trafiic with the natives 
— Their hospitality — The exploration continued — Hudson 
arrives in the vicinity of Albany — Is visited by numbers of 
Indians — Singular expedient to test their friendliness — Scene 
of intoxication — The Iroquois tradition concerning it — Re- 
turn of Hudson — An Indian killed — Ambush near Harlem 
River — Skirmish with the Manhattans — Departure. 

About the same time that Champlain was on 
his first expedition against the Iroquois, Henry 
Hudson, an English mariner in the employ of the 
Dutch East India Company, was penetrating the 
arctic regions in the vain search for a northern 
passage to India. With a small yacht, or fly- 
boat, called the Crescent, manned by a mixed 
crew of Englishmen and Hollanders, he attempted 
to reach Nova Zembla; but being impeded by 
masses of ice, he changed the course of liis vessel 
to the soutli-west, ran down the coast of Acadia, 
and on the 17th of July, 1(J09, anchored ofif the 



30 HISTOEY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

Bay of Penobscot. Finding a good harbour near 
by, he entered it the following day, and remained 
there a week, preparing a new foremast and 
mending the tattered sails. "VVliile he was thus 
engaged, a large concourse of natives arrived in 
two French shallops and in canoes, and proposed 
to traffic furs for such European commodities as 
he might have on board. Something or other 
soon occurring to elicit suspicion of their inten- 
tions, Hudson ordered a strict watch to be kept. 
The day before he left the harbour, having refit- 
ted his yacht, he sent out a boat with six men to 
capture one of the shallops, while twelve men, 
armed with muskets and light field-pieces, went 
ashore in a second boat, and driving the savages 
from their huts, plundered them of all the valua- 
bles they contained. 

Leaving at once the immediate scene of this 
outrage, Hudson glided out to the mouth of the 
harbour, from whence he set sail on the following 
day. Running down the coast, he rounded the 
promontory of Cape Cod, and steering a southerly 
direction reached the Capes of Virginia on the 
18th of August. Being driven out to sea for 
eight days by a succession of severe gales, he did 
not land and visit the colony of his countrymen, 
which he knew to have been settled on the James 
River two years before ; but turning northward, 
discovered the Delaware Bay, examined its cur- 
rents, soundings, and the aspect of the land; and 



IGOO.] HUDSON ENTERS SANDY HOOK. 31 

then, Avithout i:^oin£^ on shore, continued his course 
northwardly until the 2d of September, when he 
came in sight of the highlands of Neversink, and 
entering the next daj the southern waters of New 
York, anchored during the same afternoon within 
the harbour of Sandy Hook. 

He was immediately visited by the natives, 
some of whom were clad loosely in pliant deer- 
skins, while others were dressed in furs, and wore 
mantles of feathers. They brought on board 
small supplies of maize and green tobacco, which 
they exchanged for trifles. 

While remaining at anchor in this harbour, he 
sent a boat with five men to sound through the 
Narrows, and examine the nature of the country 
beyond. They found a fertile soil, covered with 
luxuriant grass and goodly trees, and adorned 
with such a profusion of wild flowers that the air 
was filled with their fragrance. As the boat, 
however, was returning, its small crew was sud- 
denly assaulted by a number of Indians in two 
large canoes, and John Colman, one of Hudson's 
veteran seamen, shot with an arrow in the neck. 
Two others were also wounded, but not mortally. 
This sad accident is supposed to have arisen from 
the Indians having been suddenly surprised at 
the appearance of strange men within their wa- 
ters, and not from any preconcert on their part; 
for as soon as they had discharged their arrows, 
they fled with great speed. Two days afterward 



32 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

the traffic ^Yit]l the natives was resumed. But 
Hudson, a strict, stern, cautious inan, was no 
longer willing to hazard the safety of his vessel 
and crew among a people of whose pacific in- 
tentions he began to entertain serious doubts. 
Weighing anchor, and passing through the Nar- 
rows on the 11th of September, he entered New 
York Bay, "an excellent harbour for all winds," 
where he remained until the next afternoon. 
Having determined to avoid all intercourse, as 
far as it was possible, vrith the savages who re- 
sided on the island of Manhattan, he sailed up 
the great North Kiver two leagues, and, on the 
13th, proceeded with a light wind and flood tide 
as far as Phillipsburg. Here he anchored for 
the night. The following day he continued his 
voyage, having on his left the Palisade rocks, 
presenting through a distance of thirty miles, un- 
broken save by the valley of the Nyack, a lofty 
perpendicular front, varying in altitude from three 
to seven hundred feet ; while on his right he be- 
held the river bounded by a low undulating bor- 
der, fringed with noble trees, whose foliage was 
just beginning to be tinted with the rich colours 
of autumn. Sailing onward, he saw the river 
gradually expand into a bay, contract again, and 
again expand, until in the distance before him it 
appeared to be abruptly shut in by a barrier of 
mountains. The bold heart of the mariner sank 
within him as he saw what seemed to him the 



1609.] VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON. 33 

teraiinatioii of his voyage. At length, he dis- 
covered a deep, narrow, winding river, up which 
he sailed until he came to West Point, where he 
dropped anchor, and waited until daylight for the 
farther prosecution of his discovery. As soon as 
the mist of the morning had cleared away, he 
continued his voyage fifty miles farther up the 
river, where, in full view of the Catskill Moun- 
tains, he remained until the following evening, 
trafficking with the natives, ''very loving people," 
who spoke the language of the Mohawks. Going 
with them on shore in one of their canoes, he was 
conducted to a house made of the bark of trees, 
exceedingly smooth, and well finished both within 
and without. Near the house, he saw a quantity 
of corn and beans drying in the sun, sufficient to 
have freighted three ships. The Indians received 
their visitors with great hospitality, spread mats 
for them to seat themselves upon, and brought 
them some food in wooden bowls painted red, 
while two men were despatched in search of game, 
who speedily returned with a brace of wild 
pigeons. A fat dog was also killed, and skinned 
with shells taken from the water. These prepa- 
rations were made in expectation of Hudson and 
his companions remaining during the niglit ; but 
they determined to return on board tlicir ship. 
Apprehensive that they had been influenced to 
this course through fear of their bows and arrows, 
the noble-hearted savages immediately ])roke them 



34 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

into pieces, and threw them into the fire. But 
the prudence of Hudson was proof against even 
this act of friendliness, and he persisted in taking 
his leave. Soon after, he proceeded up the river 
two leagues, when meeting with shoal water, he 
anchored off the flats, opposite to which the city 
of Hudson now stands. Continuing on his course 
by short stretches, during the three following 
days, he reached, on the 19th of September, the 
vicinity of Albany, where he remained with his 
yacht, trafficking with the natives for provisions 
and furs, while the mate with four men ascended 
the river in a boat, and sounded the depth of the 
channel as far up as the junction of the Mohawk 
with the Hudson, or opposite the present town 
of Lansingburgh. 

Hudson arrived at Schenectadea, now called 
Albany, about noon. The natives immediately 
came flocking on board, bringing with them 
grapes and pumpkins, together with otter and 
beaver skins, which they exchanged for hatchets, 
beads, knives, and other trifles. 

Desirous of testing if any of the chiefs were 
disposed to be treacherous, Hudson resorted to 
the singular expedient of plying them freely with 
wine and strong liquors. Under the influence of 
these strange potations, they all grew exceedingly 
merry, and one of them became intoxicated. On 
beholding him stagger and fall, the natives be- 
cam.e dumb from utter astonishment. They all 



1609.] INTOXICATED CHIEF. 35 

hurried ashore in their canoes, and did not again 
return to the ship until noon of the next day, 
when, finding their chief perfectly restored, they 
were highly gratified. Renewing their visit in 
the afternoon, they brought with them presents 
of tobacco and beads, and sending for a platter 
of venison, caused Hudson to eat with them. 
When he had done so, they all departed except 
the old chief, who still remained on board, in the 
hope of obtaining another draught of that attrac- 
tive but poisonous fire-water, the knowledge of 
which was thus first introduced to the Indians of 
New York. 

The tradition of this scene of intoxication, on 
the arrival of the first ship, exists among the Iro- 
quois Indians until this day. One relation trans- 
fers the locality from Albany to New York, and 
is as follows : " A long time ago, before men with 
white skins had ever been seen, some Indians 
fishing at a place where the sea widens, espied 
something at a distance moving upon the w^ater. 
They hurried ashore, collected their neighbours, 
who together returned and viewed intensely tliis 
astonishing phenomenon. What it could be baf- 
fled all conjecture. Some supposed it a large 
fish, or animal ; others, that it was a very big 
liouse floating on the sea. Perceiving it moving 
toward land, the spectators concluded it would be 
proper to send runners in diff*ercnt directions to 
carry the news to their scattered chiefs, that they 



36 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

miglit send off for the immediate attendance of 
their warriors. These arriving in numbers to 
behold the sight, and perceiving that it was ac- 
tually moving toward them, they conjectiu-ed that 
it must be a remarkably large house, in which the 
Manitto, or Great Spirit, was coming to visit 
them. They were much afraid, and yet under 
no apprehension that the Great Spirit would in- 
jure them. They worshipped him. The chiefs 
now assembled at York Island, and consulted in 
what manner they should receive their Manitto. 
Meat was prepared for a sacrifice. The women 
were directed to prepare the best of victuals. 
Idols or images were examined and put in order. 
A grand dance they thought would be pleasing, 
and, in addition to the sacrifice, might appease 
him if angry. 

" The conjurors were also set to work to deter- 
mine what this phenomenon portended, and what 
the result would be. To these, men, women, and 
children looked up for advice and protection. 
Utterly at a loss what to do, and distracted alter- 
nately by hope and fear, in their confusion a grand 
dance commenced. Meantime fresh runners ar- 
rived, declaring it to be a great house of various 
colours, and full of living creatures. It now ap- 
peared certain that it was their Manitto, probably 
bringing some new kind of game. Others, ar- 
riving, declared it positively to be full of people 
of different colour and dress from theirs, and that 



1609.] CURIOUS INTERVIEW. 37 

one in particular appeared clothed altogether in 
red. This then must be the Manitto. They 
were lost in admiration, and could not imagine 
what the vessel was, whence it came, or what all 
this portended. 

<' They are now hailed from the vessel in a 
language they could not understand. They an- 
swer by a shout, or yell, in their way. The large 
canoe stops. A smaller canoe comes on shore 
with the red man in it, some stay by his canoe to 
guard it. The chiefs and wise men form a circle, 
into which the red man and two attendants ap- 
proach. He salutes them with a friendly counte- 
nance, and they return the salute after their man- 
ner. They are amazed at their colour and 
dress, particularly with him, who, glittering in 
red, wore something — perhaps lace and buttons — 
they could not comprehend. He must be the 
Great Manitto, they thought ; but why should he 
have a white skin ? 

" A large, elegant bottle is brought by one of 
the supposed Manitto's servants, from -which a 
liquid is poured into a small cup or glass, and 
handed to the Manitto. He drinks, has the glass 
refilled, and handed to the chief near him. He 
takes it, smells it, and passes it to the next, who 
docs the same. The glass in this manner is passed 
round the circle, and is about to be returned to 
the red clothed man, when one of them, a great 
warrior, harangues them on the impropriety of 
4 



38 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

returning the cup unemptied. ' It was handed 
to them,' he said 'to drink out of as he had. To 
follow his example would please him ; to reject it, 
might provoke his wrath ; and, if no one else 
would, he would drink it himself, let what would 
follow ; for it was better for one even to die, than 
that a whole nation should be destroyed.' 

i' He then took the glass, smelled at it, again 
addressed them, bidding them adieu, and drank 
its contents. All eyes were now fixed upon him. 
He soon began to stagger. The women cried, 
supposing him in fits. He rolled on the ground. 
They bemoaned his fate ; they thought him dy- 
ing. He fell asleep. They at first thought he 
had expired, but soon perceived he still breathed. 
He awoke, jumped up, and declared he never felt 
more happy. He asked for more ; and the whole 
assembly imitating him, became intoxicated. 

''While this intoxication lasted, the whites 
confined themselves to their vessel; but when it 
ceased, the man with red clothes returned, and 
distributed beads, axes, hoes, and stockings. 
They soon became familiar, and conversed by 
signs. The whites made them understand that 
they would now return home, but the next year 
they would visit them again with presents, and 
stay with them a while ; but that as they could 
not live without eating, they should then want a 
little land to sow seeds, in order to raise herbs to 
put in their broth. 



1609.] INDIANS OUTWITTED. 39 

<' Accordingly, a vessel returned tlic season 
following, when they were much rejoiced to see 
eacli other ; but the whites laughed when they 
saw the axes and the hoes hanging as ornaments 
to their breasts, and the stockings used as tobacco 
pouches. The whites now put handles in the 
axes, and cut down trees before their eyes, and 
dug the ground, and showed them the use of the 
stockings. Here, they say, a general laugh en- 
sued, to think they had remained ignorant of the 
use of these things, and had borne so long such 
heavy metal suspended round their necks. Fa- 
miliarity daily increasing between them and the 
whites, the latter now proposed to stay wdth them, 
asking them only for so much land as the hide of 
a bullock, spread before them, could cover or en- 
compass. They granted the request. 

"The whites then took a knife, and beo^innino: 
at one place on this hide, cut it into a rope not 
thicker than the finger of a little child. They 
then took the rope, drew it gently along in a cir- 
cular form, and took in a large piece of ground. 
The Indians were surprised at their superior wit, 
but did not contend with them for a little ground, 
as they had enough. They lived conteiitciUy 
together for a long time, but the new-comers from 
time to time asked for more land, wliicli was 
readily obtained. And thus tliey .Lrradually })ro- 
ceeded up the Mahicannittuck, or Hudson lliver, 
until they began to believe they would want 



40 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

all their country, which proved eventually the 
case." 

Such is the interesting tradition, of the Iro- 
quois, of their earliest interviews with the whites, 
and the incidents which rendered those meetings 
memorable. 

After having passed several days in friendly 
intercourse and profitable trade with the natives, 
Hudson, finding he could proceed no higher up 
the river in his vessel, set out on his return. His 
ship again grounding opposite the spot where the 
city of Hudson now stands, and also suffering de- 
tention for some days by reason of adverse winds, 
he went ashore and explored the western bank 
of the river, where he found a rich soil, covered 
with goodly oak, walnut, chestnut, and cedar trees, 
with abundance of slate for houses, " and other 
good stones." 

On the 26th, he was visited by two canoes, in 
one of which came the old chief who had been 
intoxicated at Albany. He had descended the 
river thirty miles to testify his love, bringing with 
him another old man bearing strings of beads as 
a present. Hudson caused them, and the four 
women by whom they were accompanied, to dine 
with him. Two of the latter were young girls, 
some sixteen or seventeen years of age, who be- 
haved themselves ''very modestly." Dropping 
down the river on the 27th, he anchored on the 
29th in the vicinity of Newburgh, of which he 



1609.] CRUEL PUNISHMENT. 41 

took particular notice, as a "pleasant place to 
build a town in." Here he remained bartering 
with the natives, until the afternoon of October 
1st, when he sailed with a fair wind through the 
Highlands, and after descending the river seven 
leagues, the wind failing, he anchored at the 
mouth of Haverstraw Bay. 

The Indians of the Highlands, whose chief vil- 
lage was in the vicinity of Anthony's Nose — a 
name which has been given to an elevated peak 
on the east side of the North or Hudson River — 
soon came crowding on board in great numbers. 
One of them, dissatisfied with the trifles he had 
received in payment for his furs, and desirous of 
displaying to his friends something of a different 
character, lurked in his canoe about the stern 
of the ship, for the purpose of carrying off 
some article or other from this wonderful floating 
structure. 

Watching his opportunity, he clambered up the 
rudder, and entering the cabin window, stole a 
pillow and a few articles of wearing apparel. 
For this act, so venial in a poor ignorant savage, 
he was immediately shot down by the brutal 
mate. His companions, panic-stricken, took to 
flight. In an eftbrt to recover the articles, an- 
other Indian had one of his hands cut off, and 
was drowned. 

Leaving the scene of this disaster, Hudson con- 
tinued on his way, stopped fur the night off the 
4* 



42 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1609. 

mouth of Croton River, sailed again at daybreak, 
and descending the river twenty-one miles, came 
to an anchor near the upper end of the island of 
Manhattan. 

Previous to exploring the great river which 
now bears his name, Hudson, perhaps in retalia- 
tion for the death of Colman, had made prisoners 
of two Manhattan Indians, designing to hold 
them either as hostages for the future pacific be- 
haviour of their tribe, or with a view of carrying 
them to Em'ope. Opposite West Point, as he 
went up the river, these prisoners had escaped, 
and making their way back with all speed to their 
friends, collected a large party of armed warriors, 
who lay in wait for the retm-n of the vessel in 
the neighbourhood of the inlet of Harlem River. 

Near to this inlet the ship was now hove to. 
One of the savages who had escaped, accompanied 
by many others, came out in two canoes ; but not 
being suffered to approach the vessel, they fell 
back near the stern, and discharged a volley of 
arrows at the crew. A fire was immediately re- 
turned from the vessel, by which two or three 
of the savages were killed. Finding the numbers 
on shore increasing, the ship was at once got un- 
der way. As it moved along, the main body of 
Indians ran to the point upon which Fort Wash- 
ington was subsequently erected, and continued 
the assault by another volley of arrows. The dis- 
charge from a cannon killing two of them, the 



1609.] HUDSON RETURNS TO EUROPE. 43 

rest fled into the woods ; but a dozen of the bold- 
est speedily returned, and entering a canoe, ad- 
vanced resolutely against the ship. The cannon 
was fired a second time, and the ball, passing 
entirely through the canoe, killed one of the war- 
riors. A fire from the deck about the same time 
killing several others, the fight terminated, with 
the loss of nine Indians. Hudson, soon after, 
descended to the mouth of the river, and on the 
4th of October put to sea, shaping his course 
south-east by east. 



CHAPTER in. 

Hudson returns to Europe — Reaches Dartmouth — Communi- 
cates with his employers — Sails on a new voyage of discovery 
— Enters Hudson's Bay — Reaches its southern limit — 
Searches for an outlet — Is frozen in — Scarcity of his provi- 
sions — Mutinous condition of his crew — He sails for the 
mouth of the hay — Mutiny — Abandonment of Hudson and 
his companions — Signal retribution — The Dutch tratlic with 
the Indians — Captain Argall — New explorations — Blok 
coasts Long Island — Discovers the Housatonic and Connecti- 
cut Rivers — Returns with Christiaanse to Manhattan — Forti- 
fied posts erected at Manhattan and Albany — May examines 
the Delaware Bay — Alliance with the Iroquois. 

After leaving Sandy Hook, Hudson lield a 
consultation with his crew, as to whether they 
should continue their search for a new route to 
the Pacific, or return to Europe. Finding their 



44 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1610. 

opinions discordant, he concluded to sail for 
Amsterdam, and report to his employers. The 
voyage across the Atlantic was prosperous ; but, 
as he approached the coast of England, his men 
became mutinous, and compelled him to put into 
Dartmouth, where he arrived on the 7th of No- 
vember, 1609. 

He immediately wrote to the directors of the 
Dutch East India Company, transmitting them 
his journal, together with an account of his dis- 
coveries. He also proposed to them the plan of 
another voyage, which he volunteered to under- 
take upon certain conditions ; but before they 
had decided whether to accept or decline his offer, 
the English government forbade him from again 
entering into the service of the Dutch. 

Early the following year, a London company, 
in whose employ Hudson had made two previous 
voyages in search of a new route to India, en- 
gaged him to explore the inlets to the west of 
Davis's Straits, through one of which it was con- 
jectured that a passage might be found to the 
South Sea. 

Embarking on board a ship called the Discove- 
ry, with a crew of twenty-three men, Hudson left 
Blackwall on the 17th of April, 1610, and pass- 
ing Greenland, Iceland, and Frobisher's Straits, 
entered, on the 2d of August, the straits which now 
bear his name. After having encountered many 
perils from storms, and driving ice, and a great 



1610.] HUDSON FROZEN IN. 45 

whirling sea, he penetrated into Hudson's Bay, 
exulting in the belief that he had found the long- 
sought passage to the Pacific. Doomed to disap- 
pointment by reaching at length the southern 
limit of the bay, he shaped his course northward. 
Difficulties occurring soon after between himself 
and his crew, made it necessary for him to cashier 
both the mate and the boatswain, and advance 
others to their offices. Disheartened and per- 
plexed at finding himself embayed, he wasted the 
remainder of the summer in unavailing efibrts to 
discover an outlet to this great inland sea. Sail- 
ing to and fro, and with not more than six months' 
provisions on board, the season became so far 
advanced, that on the 1st of November, he was 
compelled to moor his ship in a small cove, 
where, in ten days, it was completely frozen in. 
Here they remained, arctic prisoners, until June, 
IGll. 

In the mean time, the difficulties between Hud- 
son and his crew had increased. For the first 
few months they subsisted principally on wild 
fowl ; but when these were gone, many of the men 
fell sick, and the others, emaciated by want of 
food, searched the surrounding country, and 
ate with avidity even the most loathsome things 
to appease their hunger. At the breaking up 
of the ice, they received, for the first time, a visit 
from one of the natives, who, after obtaining some 
presents, promised to return in a few days ; but 



46 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1610. 

although anxiously expected, he never came back. 
Seeing the woods on fire to the south and south- 
west, Hudson embarked in the shallop with eight 
men, in the hope of obtaining such supplies from 
the Indians as would enable him to prosecute his 
voyage. Disappointed in his endeavours to come 
up with them, for they fled before him, he re- 
turned disconsolately to his vessel, and prepared 
to leave the dreary and inhospitable region which 
he had wasted seven months in examining. 

Dividing among his crew the last remaining 
bread, amounting only to a pound for each man, 
he wept while he gave it to them. Quitting his 
winter harbour about the middle of June, he 
steered north-west from the mouth of the bay ; but 
meeting with ice, and bafiled by contrary winds, 
was soon after compelled to come to an anchor. 

During the week he was thus detained, the 
discontent which had for a long time existed 
among his crew, broke out into open mutiny. 
Headed by his deposed mate, Henry Green, the 
mutineers, at daybreak on the 21st of June, seized 
Hudson, his youthful son, and six seamen, and 
thrust them into the shallop. A fine moral inci- 
dent now occurred. Philip Staffe, the carpenter, 
— a man of a brave, hopeful spirit, and generally 
beloved — after attempting in vain to turn the 
conspirators from their purpose, determined, in 
opposition to their wishes, to share the fate of his 
commander, whatever that fate might be. The 



1610.] HUDSON ABANDONED. 47 

wind proving favourable about this time, the an- 
chor was weighed, and as soon as the ship, having 
at her stern the shallop, had become partially 
free from the surrounding ice, the rope was cut, 
and Hudson and his eight companions were mer- 
cilessly abandoned, to be swallowed up by the 
waters of that wild arctic bay which they were 
the first to discover, to meet a lingering death by 
starvation, or to fall victims to the fury of the 
savages, whose fires had been discovered to the 
south-west. Not one of them was ever heard of 
after. 

This cold-blooded act on the part of the muti- 
neers was destined to meet with a signal retribu- 
tion. After beating about for a month, and barely 
escaping shipwreck on three several occasions, 
they at length reached, on the 19th of July, the 
vicinity of Cape Diggs, where they fell in with a 
number of savages in seven canoes. Being wel- 
comed with a great show of hospitality, and ap- 
prehending no treachery. Green, Wilson, and 
Thomas, the chief conspirators, went ashore tbe 
next day, unarmed, to meet the savages, some of 
whom had gathered on the beach, while others 
were dancing and gesticulating on the hills be- 
yond. Two others of the mutineers, Perce and 
Meter, landed at tlie siirac time, and ascended 
the rocks to gather sorrel. The boat was left in 
cliarge of one Prickett, a lame man, who liad only 
})een passively implicated in the desertion of llud- 



48 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1610. 

son and his unfortunate companions. While this 
guard was seated at the stern, some savages came 
out from an ambush near by, the leader of whom 
sprang upon Prickett and wounded him in several 
places ; but the latter, having succeeded in draw- 
ing a Scotch dagger, stabbed the savage with so 
direct an aim that he fell dead on the boat. At 
this juncture, Green and Wilson, beset on all 
sides, came staggering across the beach, and 
tumbled into the boat, mortally wounded. Motor 
sprang from the rocks into the sea. Perce, badly 
hurt, fought with a hatchet his way to the boat, 
pushed it from the shore, and helped Moter in. 
A cloud of arrows was now poured in upon the 
fugitives, by one of which Green was shot dead. 
Wilson and the other wounded, with the excep- 
tion of Prickett, died the same day, leaving only 
one of the ringleaders alive, and he perished 
miserably by famine before the ship reached Eng- 
land. 

Such was the tragic end of Henry Hudson, the 
renowned arctic discoverer, and the first explorer 
of the great river of New York, and such the fate 
of the principal mutineers. 

It was not until after the lapse of several years, 
that the United Provinces laid formal claim to the 
country watered by the Hudson and its tributa- 
ries ; but in the mean time, a profitable traffic in 
furs had been carried on with the natives, the 
ships of the Dutch often wintering at Albany, or 



1614.] TRADING-HOUSES ERECTED. 49 

Beaverwyck, as it soon came to be called, where 
tliey exchanged with the Iroquois, or Five Na- 
tions, guns, ammunition, blankets, and trinkets, 
for the beaver and other valuable skins which 
were then obtained abundantly in that region. 

The first voyage, undertaken in 1610, proving 
extremely lucrative, led to an extension of the 
traffic. The Iroquois, bitterly hostile to the 
French settlement in Canada, cemented a close 
friendship with the Dutch; while the Manhattans, 
though the hereditary foes to the Mohawks, the 
most important of the Five Nations, so far re- 
laxed their enmity toward the Netherlanders as 
to permit them to erect trading-houses on their 
island. 

In 1614, Captain Argall, the kidnapper of Po- 
cahontas, while returning from an expedition 
against the French settlement at Port Royal, dis- 
covered a few rude warehouses and huts on the 
island of Manhattan, and compelled the traders 
by whom they were occupied to acknowJedge the 
autliority of England. The few Dutch residing 
on the island, being too weak to resist, sought 
safety by submission; but soon as Argall had 
taken his departure, they again hoisted their own 
flag. 

A few months previous to tliis, tlic States Gene- 
ral of the Netherlands, liaving graiited to such 
as should discover new lands an exclusive trade 
to them for four successive voyages, a company 

5 



50 HISTOKY OF NEW YORK. [1614. 

of merchants fitted out five ships for exploration 
and traffic. The chief command of this little fleet 
was intrusted to Hendrik Christiaanse, who sailed 
with three of the vessels on an exploring expedi- 
tion to the north of Cape Cod, while the remaining 
two, under Captains Blok and May, steered for 
the harbour of New York. Shortly after his 
arrival, the ship commanded by Blok, being ac- 
cidentally destroyed by fire, he built on the coast 
a yacht of sixteen tons burden, and passing 
through the East River, to which he gave the 
name of Helle-Gadt, coasted Long Island, and 
determined its insular situation. Meeting with 
one of the ships belonging to the squadron of 
Christiaanse, he embarked on board of it, leaving 
his yacht to be used by a fishing party. Having 
discovered the Housatonic, and explored the Con- 
necticut, which he called Fresh River, he next 
examined Narraganset Bay, and finally returned 
with Christiaanse to the harbour of New York. 
Here, on jthe southern point of Manhattan Island, 
a small fort was erected during the autumn of 
this year, and in the course of the year folloAving, 
a similar redoubt, surrounded by a ditch, and 
mounted by thirteen small pieces of artillery, was 
erected upon a small island a little below the pre- 
sent city of Albany. 

While Christiaanse and Blok were exploring 
to the north and east. May steered south and ex- 
am»ining the Delaware Bay, gave to the north- 



1617.] TREATY WITH THE FIVE NATIONS. 51 

ern cape his own name. His exploration was 
continued soon after in the new yacht built by 
Blok, by Hendricksen, who ascended the river as 
far as the mouth of the Schuylkill. 

The chief command of these fortified trading 
posts thus established was given to Christiaanse, 
Jacob Elkins, formerly a merchant's clerk in 
Amsterdam, receiving the ap*pointment of lieu- 
tenant, or commissary. 

The redoubt at the island near Albany, being 
found subject to overflow during high floods, it 
was abandoned in 1617, and another fortification 
constructed soon after on the mainland four miles 
south. At this place a treaty was concluded be- 
tween the Dutch and Iroquois, to which the Dela- 
wares and Mohicans were also parties. This im- 
portant alliance with the Five Nations was pro- 
ductive of the most beneficial results, both to the 
Dutch themselves and to the English, who suc- 
ceeded them. It was maintained in good faith 
for many years; and by opposing a bjirrier of 
friendly Indians to the encroachments of the 
French, eff'ectually precluded them from inflicting 
more than a temporary injury upon the frontier 
settlements, -while it secured a prompt and san- 
guinary retaliation. 



52 HISTORY OP^EW YORK. [1618. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The English Puritans in Holland — First project of a settlement 
— Agents sent to England to treat with the Virginia Com- 
pany — Embarkation at Delfthaven — The Mayflower — Acci- 
dents to the Speedwell — Arrival off Cape Cod — Plymouth 
settled — Dutch West India Company incorporated — Forts 
built on the Hudson and the Delaware — Arrival of Governor 
Minuits — The first colonists of New Netherland — Increase 
of the fur trade — Commercial relations with New Plymouth — 
Embassy of De Razier — Dutch scheme of colonization — Pro- 
vision concerning Patroons — Swanandael purchased — Pa- 
vonia — Renselaerwyk — Colony of De Vries near Henlopen — 
Its massacre by the savages — Return of De Vries — The colo- 
ny re-established — Removal of Minuits — Administration of 
Wouter Van Twiller — Trading-post established on the Con- 
necticut — Emigration to New England — Settlements on the 
Connecticut — Difficulties with the Patroons — The manors 
of Pavonia and Swanandael revert to the company — Removal 
of Van Twiller — William Keift appointed governor. 

While the Dutch were thus busily engaged in 
profiting by the explorations of Hudson and sub- 
sequent navigators, a number of English Puritans, 
who had taken refuge in Amsterdam and Leyden 
from religious persecution at home, unable to ac- 
commodate the rigid austerity of their own reli- 
gious tenets to the looser though more liberal 
opinions of the Hollanders, determined at length 
to emigrate to some new country, where they could 
maintain in its integrity the form of worship to 
which they were attached, and preserve, at the 
same time, the morals of their children from cor- 



1620.] THE PURITANS. 53 

ruption. At first tliej thought of settling in 
Guiana, but preferring a country where their own 
language was spoken, they sent Robert Cushman 
and John Carver to England to treat with the 
Virginia Company for a place of settlement. 
Failing to obtain from the king a guarantee of 
protection in their religious principles, the ne- 
gotiation languished. It was, however, subse- 
quently renewed, and in 1619 a patent was 
obtained in the name of John Wincob for the 
northern parts of Virginia ; but owing to the de- 
tention of the latter in England, this patent was 
never- used. 

The establishment of a colony in America hav- 
ing been decided upon, a part of the Leyden con- 
gregation, under the guidance of Elder Brewster, 
left Delfthavcn, in a small vessel called the 
Speedwell, toward the close of June, 1620, and 
crossing over to Southampton, were there joined 
by the Mayflower, an English ship freighted with 
their provisions and outfit. When the passengers 
had been distributed between the two ships, they 
set sail on the 5th of August^ but had not pro- 
ceeded far on their voyage before the Speedwell 
was found to leak so badly that they were obliged 
to return to port and refit. 

On the 21st of August, the anchors were again 
weighed; but the Speedwell proving leaky a 
second time, they put ]»ack into Plymouth, and 
abandoned the vessel as unscawortby. The re- 
s' 



M HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1621. 

maining vessel not being sufficiently large to 
accommodate the whole of the company, a portion 
of them were now left behind. The others em- 
barked on board the Mayflower, and on the 6th 
of September the voyage was resumed. 

After a rough and tedious passage, which lasted 
nine weeks, the Mayflower entered, on the 9th of 
November, the harbour of Cape Cod. Finding 
they had arrived at a part of the continent which 
was not embraced within the limits of their patent, 
they concluded before landing to form themselves 
into a government distinct from that of Virginia. 
When they had drawn up and signed a written 
contract, by which they mutually agreed to yield 
obedience to all just laws and ordinances as should 
be thought most proper and convenient for the 
general good of the colony, they chose John Car- 
ver for their first governor, and immediately 
afterward sent out exploring parties to examine 
the face of the country, and to select a fit place 
to establish a settlement. 

After coasting about for nearly five weeks, they 
at length fell in with the harbour of Plymouth ; 
and on the 11th of December, 1621, Governor 
Carver went ashore, attended by several of the 
principal immigrants. Finding the situation bet- 
ter suited to their pm-poses than any they had yet 
seen, the whole of the company, one hundred and 
one in number, were disembarked, and commenced 
erecting soon after, of timbers hewn from the 



1623.] TWO NEW FORTS BUILT. 55 

living trees of the adjacent forest, the first houses 
built in the town of New Plymouth. 

"While this little colony was struggling with 
privations under which one-half of their number 
prematurely perished, a great change was taking 
place in the commercial relations of the Dutch 
with the North American continent. The Am- 
sterdam licensed trading company, which had 
hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of this lucrative 
traffic, was superseded by a great national asso- 
ciation, which, under the title of the Dutch West 
India Company, was incorporated with exclusive 
privileges of trade and settlement. 

To that portion of the continent embraced be- 
tween the Delaware Bay and Cape Cod, was now 
given the name of New Netherland. In 1623, 
the first ship sent out by the new company ar- 
rived in the North River, and during the same 
year two new forts were built ; one called Fort 
Nassau, on the Delaware llivcr, and the other 
Fort Orange, on the west bank of the Hudson, 
where the town of Albany now stands. 

In 1624, Peter Minuits arrived at Manhattan 
Island, as Director or Commercial Governor of 
New Netherland. He broucrht with him in two 

o 

vessels a number of Walloons, or French l*rotcst- 
ants, so called from their ancestors having fled 
from religious intolerance in their own country, 
and settled upon the banks of tlic river Waal, in 
Guelderland. These Walloons, the first perma- 



56 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1624. 

nent colonists of New Netherland, established 
themselves on Long Island, at Walle-Bochtj or 
Foreigners' Bay, now called Wallabout. 

During the six years that Minuits was gover- 
nor of New Netherland, he was actively engaged 
in extending the commercial operations of the 
company ; but although the territory over which 
he claimed jurisdiction was recognised as a ''de- 
lightful land, full of fine trees and vines," its 
colonization proceeded slowly, until some of the 
directors, among the most prominent of whom 
were John De Laet and Kilian Van Renselaer, 
formed an association for that especial purpose. 

In the mean time, the quantity of furs exported 
by the vessels of the company had been doubled 
within the first four years. The trade with the 
natives extended northward to Quebec, Fort 
Orange constituting the chief mart for the interior 
of the province. A coasting trade was also car- 
ried on by small vessels, which gradually extended 
itself from Cape May to Cape Malabar. 

Six years after the settlement of New Ply- 
mouth, Governor Minuits attempted, for the first 
time, to open commercial relations with that co- 
lony. Letters were accordingly written to the 
people of New Plymouth, congratulating them 
upon the success which had attended their efforts 
to establish a plantation in the wilderness, and 
offering to supply them with any wares they should 
be pleased to deal for. The answer being friendly, 



1627.] EMBASSY TO PLYMOUTH. 57 

Isaac de Razier, secretary of New Netherland, 
" a person of a plain and genteel behaviour," 
embarked with great formality on board a small 
vessel called the Nassau, attended by a body- 
guard of soldiers and trumpeters, to support the 
dignity of his mission. Landing on the north 
side of Cape Cod, he crossed over to the southern 
shore, where he met with a boat despatched to 
receive him and his retinue, and crossing the bay, 
entered Fort Plymouth, ^'honourably attended 
by a noise of trumpeters." 

Meeting with a welcome reception, he remained 
several days, but failed in his efforts to arrange 
a treaty of peace and commerce, as Governor 
Bradford and his council doubted the claim of 
the Dutch to the country they occupied, and 
recommended that so important a treaty should 
be agreed upon between their respective nations. 
This expression of opinion did not, however, mar 
in the least degree the good feeling existing be- 
tween De Razier and his Puritan friends. With 
considerate kindness he offered them the assist- 
ance of the New Netherland troops against the 
French, if it should at any time be required, and 
urged tliem to abandon the barren soil of Ply- 
mouth for the more fertile banks of the Connec- 
ticut. 

When he took his departure, lie was accom- 
panied to his vessel by a number of the colonists, 
who purchased from him some articles of mer- 



58 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1629. 

chandise for their own use, and a quantity of 
seawan, or Indian shell money, to exchange with 
the natives for peltry and provisions. 

In 1629, a scheme of colonization was drawn 
up by the directors of the Dutch West India 
Company, and ratified soon after by the States 
General. Under this charter of liberties and ex- 
emptions, any person who within the space of four 
years established in New Netherland, at his own 
expense, a colony of fifty persons, acquired the 
right to purchase from the Indians an extent of 
territory stretching sixteen miles along one side 
of a navigable river, or eight miles on each bank, 
running as far inland as he thought proper. The 
land thus bought and settled, he^was entitled to 
hold as absolute proprietor, with the honourable 
appellation of Patroon, or Lord of the Manor. 
All other persons willing to emigrate on their 
own account, were at liberty to take up as much 
land as they had the ability properly to improve. 
The company reserved to itself the trade in furs, 
and the possession of the island of Manhattan, 
promising to complete the fort without delay, and 
to supply the colonists with negro slaves; but 
binding themselves to do so no longer than the 
traffic might be found convenient or lucrative. 

This charter of privileges was no sooner pro- 
mulgated, than several of the directors of the 
company bestirred themselves to take advantage 
of its provisions. Two of them, Godyn and 



1630.] RENSELAERWYK AND PAYONIA. 59 

Bloemart, in anticipation of its passage, had 
already commissioned their agents in America to 
purchase from the natives the tract of land ex- 
tending from Cape Henlopen to the mouth of the 
Delaware, a distance of thirty-two miles. In 
May, 1630, they made a second purchase of the 
country around and including Cape May, sixteen 
miles in length, and the same in breadth, from 
the Indian owners of that territory. These two 
tracts received the name of Swanandael, or the 
Valley of Swans. 

In April, the agent of Kilian Van Renselaer, 
in consideration of certain cargoes or parcels of 
goods, purchased the lands on both sides of the 
Hudson River, above and below Fort Orange, 
subsequently known as Renselacrw^^k. This 
territory, with additions made a few years 
afterward, was twenty-four miles in length and 
forty-eight in breadth, and included the present 
counties of Albany and llensclaer, with a part of 
Columbia. During the months of June and July 
of this year, Pauw, another of the directors, ob- 
tained in a similar manner a grant of Iloboken 
and Staten Island, to which he gave the name of 
Pavonia. 

Companies were soon after formed for the 
speedy settlement of these manors. De Vries, one 
of the owners under Godyn's patent, established 
a colony of thirty persons at Swanandael, or Val- 
ley of Swans, a short distance from Capo Hen- 



6Q HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1631. 

lopen, at a place called Hoarkill, now known as 
Lewistown. A number of emigrants, sufficient 
to make good the titles of the patroons, were also 
settled at Pavonia and Renselaerwyk. 

After remaining a year in the country, De 
Vries returned to Holland for supplies, leaving 
his colonists to the care of Gillis Osset, a rash 
and ignorant man, who, instead of endeavouring 
to conciliate the affection of the surrounding In- 
dians, quarrelled with them because one of their 
chiefs had innocently appropriated to his own 
use a tin-plate stamped with the arms of Holland, 
which had been affixed to a post in Swanandael, 
as a sign of sovereignty. Finding the offence 
regarded as serious, the Indians cut off the head 
of the chief who had committed it, and brought 
a token of the deed to Osset. 

Grieved that his intemperate speech should 
have led to so sanguinary a result, the Dutch 
commander told the messenger they had done 
wrong, and that a simple reprimand would have 
been all-sufficient. The friends of the murdered 
chief, attributing his death to the clamour raised 
by Osset, now concerted together to avenge them- 
selves upon all the colonists. While the latter, 
thirty-two in number, were engaged in the fields 
attending to the cultivation of their tobacco and 
grain, the commander Osset and a single sentinel 
remained in charge of the palisaded fort, where 
the settlers all lived together. Accordingly, 



1632.] SUDDEN MASSACRE. 61 

the Indians, having assembled to carry out their 
purpose, sent three of their warriors to the fort, 
as if for purposes of trade. Bearing in their 
arms parcels of beaver skins, they passed the 
sentinel, and cautiously avoiding a large bull-dog 
which was chained outside of the house, they ap- 
proached the commander, who stood near the 
door, and with smiling countenances offered to 
barter their furs for merchandise. A bargain 
having been struck, Osset proceeded to the garret 
where the public stores were deposited, for the 
purpose of obtaining the commodities agreed 
upon. While he was absent, the Indians stationed 
themselves near the staircase, and awaited im- 
patiently his reappearance. The moment he 
descended, one of them cleft his head with a 
tomahawk, and he fell dead on the floor. The 
sentinel and the dog were next despatched; the 
latter, of v/hom they stood in great terror, being 
shot at from a distance, until he was pierced 
through and through with more than a score of 
arrows. Possession of the fort having been thus 
obtained, they now arranged their plans for the 
murder of the colonists at work in the fields. 
Collecting together into one body, they advanced 
leisurely toward their victims, whom they ap- 
proached with an air of idle curiosity, as if desirous 
of witnessing them at their labours. Watching 
their opportunity, they fell upon the workmen 
suddenly, and, by a simultaneous movement, mas- 



62 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1632. 

sacred the whole of them. The fort was imme- 
diately destroyed, the palisades torn up, and 
the southern shore of the Delaware Bay was once 
more in complete possession of the natives. 

On returning from Holland with additional 
immigrants in December, De Yries, entering the 
bay where he had left in peaceful security his in- 
dustrious settlers, found nothing but silence and 
desolation. Ascending the creek in his boat, he 
found the valley beyond strewed with the remains 
of his murdered countrymen. A few Indians 
making their appearance at a distance, he greeted 
them with words of peace, but it was not without 
hesitancy that they advanced to meet him. De- 
sirous of recovering their friendship, De Yries 
distributed some presents among them, and formed 
a treaty of peace and reconciliation. Disembark- 
ing the few settlers he had brought with him, he 
sailed up the river to trade with the natives for 
supplies. Fort Nassau, built upon Timber Creek, 
near Camden, which had been some time before 
deserted by its garrison, he found filled with In- 
dians, of whose sanguinary intentions he was 
providentially forewarned. A large number of 
them entered his boat, some playing on reeds, 
and others bearing beaver skins for sale. Af- 
ter startling them by avowing his knowledge 
of their intentions, he compelled them to return 
to shore, under threats of being fired on if ^ey 
resisted. When they had reluctantly obeyed his 



1633.] WOUTER VAN TWILLER. 63 

orders, sixteen of their chiefs formed a circle on 
the bank, and declared themselves disposed to be 
friendly. From motives of policy he concluded 
a treaty of peace Avith them, and accepting at 
their hands the presents customary on such occa- 
sions, offered them others in return. These, how- 
ever, they refused to take, stating coldly that they 
did not bestow gifts for the purpose of receiving 
others. 

Failing to obtain on the banks of the Delaware 
the provisions he required, he sailed to Virginia, 
where he was not only furnished with supplies, 
but received from the governor six goats, which 
he took with him to New Amsterdam. They 
constituted the first live stock owned by the colo- 
nists of Manhattan. 

The administration of Governor Minuits not 
proving satisfactory to the Dutch West India 
Company, he was removed from his office in the 
spring of 1633, and Wouter Van Twiller appoint- 
ed director-general in his place. This new officer 
had just arrived, and by him De Vries was wel- 
comed to the fort, and hospitably entertained 
during the remainder of his stay. 

Under the government of Van Twiller, new 
trading-posts were established, to meet the in- 
creasing traffic with the Indians. A profitable 
trade in furs springing up with the Pequods and 
their neighbours upon the Connecticut River, led 
to the purchase of land from the former, and the 



64 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1634. 

erection of a fortified post ' called the House of 
Good Hope, not far from the present city of 
Hartford. 

In the mean time, the colony of Plymouth 
having received large accessions of immigrants 
from abroad, a commercial rivalry between the 
latter and the Dutch was gradually undermining 
the good feeling which had hitherto existed be- 
tween them. Winthrop, the governor of the new 
colony settled in Massachusetts Bay, protested 
against the occupation of the Connecticut by the 
Dutch, on the ground that the King of England 
had already granted it to certain of his subjects. 
Van Twiller, in reply, deprecated any contention 
about " a little part or portion of these heathenish 
countries," and proposed to refer the dispute for 
settlement to their respective governments. 

The colony of New Plymouth now took up the 
matter, and proceeded to assert a right to the 
territory in question by building a trading-house 
at Windsor, a short distance above the post erected 
a few months previous by Van Twiller. 

Indignant at this contemptuous defiance of his 
authority, the latter immediately despatched a 
force of seventy soldiers to break up the English 
establishment; but as the Puritans evinced a 
sturdy determination to defend their new posses- 
sion, the Dutch commander very prudently re- 
called his troops, and contented himself with 
issuing a vigorous protest. 



1634.] IMPROVEMENTS. 65 

Finding liis English neighbours obstinately 
bent on appropriating to themselves the rich 
meadows of the Connecticut, Van Twiller busied 
himself in strengthening and improving New 
Amsterdam. During the year 1634, he rebuilt 
the fort, erected barracks for the accommodation 
of the garrison, constructed a church and par- 
sonage-house, together with various windmills 
and dwellings for the use of the colonists, and 
opened several farms, or boweries, in the interior 
of the island. But this sudden display of energy 
soon subsided, and, while seeking to aggrandize 
himself, he gradually suffered the affairs of the 
company to fall into neglect. 

In the mean time, a quarrel had been progress- 
ing between the Dutch West India Company and 
the patroons, or large proprietaries; the former 
contending for a monopoly of the fur trade, while 
the latter claimed the exclusive right of traffic 
within the limits of their own territories. The 
company finally put an end to the dispute by re- 
purchasing the Swanandael lands belonging to 
De Vries and others, and by resuming their au- 
thority over Ilobokcn and Staten Island. The 
manors of Pavonia and Swanandael being thus 
abolished, that of Renselaerwyk alone remained. 

But while the Dutch were thus busily cmph)yed 
with their commercial adventures, large num])ers 
of immigrants were flocking into the New Eng- 
land colonics, and encroaching upon the territory 
6* 



66 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1638. 

of New Netherland. The trading-post established 
by Van Twiller on the Connecticut still remained 
in the charge of his officers; but the country 
around it was fast settling by the English. In 
1634, the latter built a fort at the mouth of the 
river ; and the following year the congregation of 
Mr. Hooper, one hundred in number, settled 
upon its western bank, and in the vicinity of 
Van Twiller's house of Good Hope, founded the 
town of Hartford. 

The administration of Van Twiller not proving 
satisfactory to the company, he was superseded 
in 1638 by William Keift, who immediately went 
to work with great energy to remedy the disorder 
into which the affairs of the province had fallen. 



1638.] GOVERNOR KIEFT. 67 



CHAPTER V. 

Difficulties of Governor Kieft — Delaware settled by the Swedes 
— Arrival of Minuits — Fort built on Christiana Creek — Ac- 
tion of Dutch West India Company — Occupation of Long 
Island by the Puritans — Fort Nassau reoccupied — Indian 
disturbances — A retaliatory murder — Kieft demands the fu- 
gitive — Preparations for war — Failure of the first expedition 
against the Raritans — Trouble with the Hackensacks — Two 
Hollanders murdered — Indemnity offered and refused — Mas- 
sacre of the Raritans and Hackensacks — Confederation of the 
river tribes — Indian war — Deplorable condition of the Dutch 
— Long Island and Manhattan devastated — Unpopularity of 
Kieft — Attempt upon his life — Negotiations for peace — 
Speech of an Indian chief — Renewal of the war — Expedi- 
tions of Underhill — Destruction of Indians at Tappan and on 
Long Island — Interposition of the Mohawks — Treaty of 
peace. 

KiEFT had scarcely assumed the government 
of New Netherland before he found hhnself in- 
volved in a perfect network of difficulties. While 
the encroachments of the English at the north 
were rapidly contracting the limits of the Dutch 
claims in that direction, the Swedes had made 
their appearance on the Delaware, and were ex- 
ercising an independent authority over that re- 
gion. 

This new colony owed its existence to Minuits. 
Indignant at having been superseded by Van 
Twiller, Minuits sailed to Sweden, and proposed 



68 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1638. 

to Oxensteirn, the celebrated minister of Queen 
Christina, the settlement of a colony on the shores 
of the Delaware. His services were promptly 
accepted. Two vessels, the Key of Calmar and 
the Griffin, were placed under his orders. Leaving 
Sweden toward the close of the year 1637, he 
touched at Virginia for wood and water, and then 
proceeding to the Delaware, sailed up the river, 
purchased from the Indians the lands on the 
western shore of the bay, from the southern cape 
to the falls near Trenton, and, building a fort 
near the mouth of Christiana Creek, there planted 
his little colony early in the spring of 1638. 
Keift immediately issued a series of sharp pro- 
tests against the occupation of the territory by 
the Swedes ; but as Minuits paid no heed to his 
remonstrances, he hesitated to resort to forcible 
measures, until he had first advised with his em- 
ployers. 

But the Dutch West India Company had the 
sagacity to foresee that a state of hostilities with 
the English and the Swedes was by no means 
calculated to benefit their American trade, and 
that the only way whereby they could hope to 
compete with their new rivals was to encourage 
the growth of New Netherland by ofi'ering addi- 
tional advantages to actual settlers. This was 
done; and under the more liberal provisions of 
the new charter of privileges, a large number of 
immigrants arrived at New Amsterdam. The 



1642.] PURITAN ENCROACHMENTS. 69 

colony was further increased by persons from 
Virginia and New England. 

In the mean time, the English had settled New 
Haven, and farms were springing up all about 
the Dutch trading-post on the Connecticut, until 
the lands around it were restricted to thirty acres. 
Long Island was also occupied under a grant 
from Lord Stiiding ; the arms of the Dutch torn 
down from the tree to which they had been affixed, 
and, in bravado, a roughly-carved fool's-head was 
set up in their place. 

But this insult was too flagrant to be suffered 
to pass without punishment. The intruders were 
taken prisoners hy a party of Dutch troops, and 
were not released until they had humbly apolo- 
gized for their oifence, and promised to quit the 
territory. They did not, however, leave the island, 
b&t, retiring to its eastern end, founded the town 
of Southampton. Another company of Puritans 
landed on the island in 1G41, and settled the vil- 
lage of Southold. Against these encroachments, 
Kieft, a passionate, headstrong man, comjilained 
bitterly, but failed of obtaining any redress. In 
despite of all his protests, settlers from Connec- 
ticut spread themselves more and more over the 
territory of New Nctherland during tlic year 
1642 ; while, at the same time, numerous families 
of Swedes and Fins established themselves along 
the shores of the Delaware. But tliough the 
Dutch asserted their riglit to tlio country by re- 



70 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1642. 

occupying Fort Nassau, Printz, the new Swedish 
governor, garrisoned a similar work on Tinicum 
Island, a few miles below, as a place of residence 
for himself, and a protection to the settlers in its 
vicinity. 

At any other period, it is possible that the 
possession of either shore of the Delaware might 
have been disputed by the Dutch governor of 
New Netherland ; but when those settlements took 
place, Kieft was too busily engaged in another 
quarter, to show his resentment in any manner 
more forcible than words. Indian disturbances 
had broken out. An Indian of the Raritan tribe, 
having witnessed during his boyhood the rob- 
bery and murder of his uncle by one of the ser- 
vants of Minuits, had nursed a desire to revenge 
his kinsman's death as soon as he was grown up. 
In 1641, he fulfilled his vow of retaliation by 
killing an old Dutchman. Kieft immediately de- 
manded that the assassin should be given up ; but 
his people refused to surrender him, and justified 
the act. 

In this emergency, Kieft summoned a meeting 
of the principal citizens and farmers, to take the 
subject into consideration. They chose twelve 
of their number to advise with the governor ; but 
as the board, thus popularly appointed, com- 
menced an active inquiry into existing abuses, 
Kieft speedily dissolved it, as infringing upon his 
authority. A detachment of eighty men was sent 



1642.] INDIAN TROUBLES. 71 

against the Raritans ; but the guide lost his way, 
and the exj^edition came to nothing. De Vries 
and other moderate men counselled a more pa- 
cific policy; and the Indians themselves, finding 
they were threatened with hostilities, evinced a 
disposition to conciliate matters, by offering to 
surrender the murderer. Unfortunately, while 
the adjustment of this affair was pending, a 
Hackensack Indian, the son of a chief of that 
tribe, who had been made drunk and then robbed 
by the Dutch, revenged himself by shooting down 
the first two white men he chanced to meet. 

Desirous of making immediate atonement, a 
deputation of chiefs waited on Kieft, and offered 
two hundred fathom of wampum as an indemnity 
for the crime. The wampum was refused, and a 
peremptory demand made for the murderer. The 
chieftains declined to surrender him. "You 
yourselves," said they, "are the cause of this 
evil. You ought not to craze the young Indians 
with brandy. Your own people, when drunk, 
figlit with knives and do foolish things ; and you 
cannot prevent mischief till you cease to self 
strong drink to the Indian." 

Notwithstanding the obvious truth of this re- 
monstrance, Kieft would listen to no terms of 
accommodation that did not include the surrender 
of the fugitive. The chiefs were equally inflexi- 
ble in shicldinf:^ him. While the anger of the 
Dutch governor was at its height, his allies, the 



72 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1643. 

Mohawks, descended upon tlie Raritans, and 
forced them to throw themselves upon the mercy 
of the Dutch. Their forlorn condition awakening 
a feeling of pity, some of the more compassionate 
of the colonists supplied them with food. Fearing 
to return to their former homes in the vicinity 
of Tappan, the fugitives took shelter among the 
Hackensacks. The two tribes most obnoxious to 
the Dutch being thus brought near to each other, 
the war party among the colonists determined 
upon their massacre ; and, in defiance of the re- 
monstrances of De Vries and many of the most 
influential inhabitants of New Amsterdam, prepa- 
rations were at once made to carry their san- 
guinary purpose into effect. 

Acting under the authority of the passionate 
and overbearing governor, two armed parties, 
composed respectively of troops and volunteers, 
crossed the Hudson on the night of the 25th of 
February, 1643, and fell- suddenly upon the In- 
dian encampments. Taken entirely by surprise, 
scarcely any resistance was offered ; and in the 
stillness of the night, the noise of the musketry 
and the shrieks of the victims could be distinctly 
heUrd by the inhabitants of the island of Man- 
hattan. No mercy was shown. Men, women, 
children, all were indiscriminately slaughtered. 
Infants bound in their bark cradles were flung 
into the icy river ; and the poor frantic mothers, 
who had plunged into the water to their rescue, 



1643.] FEARFUL RETALIATION. 7S 

were mercilessly forced back from the shore 
until they were drowned. This fearful massacre 
continued throughout the following day. The 
wounded, who during the darkness of the night 
had crawled into secret hiding-places, were hunted 
out and killed in cold blood. Nearly a hundred 
Indians, of all ages, perished in this barbarous 
onslaught, and some thirty others were taken pri- 
soners to New Amsterdam. 

But the triumph of the Dutch was only tem- 
porary. All the tribes around Manhattan made 
common cause with the Raritans and Ilacken- 
sacks, and commenced a war of retaliation. In 
every direction plantations were destroyed, vil- 
lages burned, the men and women murdered, and 
the helpless children hurried away into captivity. 
The settlements on Long Island were laid deso- 
late. Those on the opposite shore of the Sound 
shared the same fiite. Ruin and despair stared 
the harassed colonists in the face. Many sought 
safety in flying from the country. "-'Mine eyes," 
says Roger Williams, '' saw tlie flames of tlieir 
towns, the frights and hurries of men, women, and 
children, and the present removal of all tliat 
could to Holland." 

The fury of Kieft was succeeded b}' terror and 
remorse. He was charged witli having been tlif 
cause of the massacre. lie threw tlie blame on 
Adriansen, an old freebooter, who had headed 
the ferocious attack on tlie Raritans. Rendered 

7 



74 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1643. 

furious l3y tliis accusation, Adriansen, armed with 
cutlass and pistol, attempted the life of the gover- 
nor. His assault being frustrated, he was seized 
and sent a prisoner to Holland. In this fearful 
state of things, all the colonists were enrolled 
into service, and a day was set apart for a solemn 
fast. 

Happily, the vengeance of the combined tribes 
was satiated. Offers of peace were made and ac- 
cepted. A deputation, led by De Vries, met the 
principal chiefs of Long Island at Rockaway, on 
the 5th of March, 1643. In the council which 
was held soon after their arrival, one of the chiefs 
arose, bearing in his hand a bundle of small 
sticks. Addressing himself to De Vries and his 
companions, he said: — 

"When you first arrived on our shores, you 
were d-estitute of food ; we gave you our beans 
and our corn ; we fed you with oysters and fish ; 
and now, for our recompense, you murder our 
people." Here the chief put down one little 
stick. Having thus indicated that this was his 
first accusation, he continued : — 

" The traders whom your first ships left upon our 
shore to traffic till their return, were cherished 
by us as the apple of our eye ; we gave them our 
daughters for their wives ; among those whom 
you have murdered were children of your own 
blood.'' This closed the orator's second charge, 
and he laid down another stick. Many other 



1G43.] HOSTILITIES RENEWED. 75 

complaints of a similar natmc remained behind, 
as was shown by the number of sticks which he 
still held in his hand. 

A truce was at length agreed upon, to which 
the river tribes assented soon after; but it was 
only of brief duration. Their wrongs had been 
too great for the Indians to settle down quietly, 
and the presents they received as an equivalent 
for the damage they had sustained bore no pro- 
portion to the losses they had incurred. " The 
price of blood has not been paid," said an old 
chief sadly, and the war broke out anew. 

In September, the confederated tribes recom- 
menced their devastations upon the frontier settle- 
ments, and Kieft was again compelled to call 
upon the colonists for assistance and advice. A 
board of eight men were appointed by the popu- 
lar voice to consult with and aid the governor in 
the conduct of the war. John Underbill, an 
English soldier, who had already distinguished 
himself by his bravery in the Pequod war of Now 
England, was chosen to coilimand the Dutch 
troops. 

Never were energetic measures more im- 
peratively needed. Nearly all the settlements 
upon Long Island were deserted and de- 
stroyed; and of the plantations upon Manhattan 
Inland, only three remained. The distressed 
colonists, flying before the fury of the savages, 
were now huddled ni-oiind the fort at New Am- 



76 HISTORY CF NEVv' YORK. [1644. 

sterdam, where, half famished for want of pro- 
visions, and in daily fear of an attack, which they 
felt themselves incompetent to successfully resist, 
they dragged out for nearly two years a misera 
ble and precarious existence. Fearful of bein^ 
utterly exterminated, they applied for assistance 
to the colonists of Connecticut, and to the Dutch 
West India Company. But the former were un- 
willing to embroil themselves with their savage 
neighbours ; and the latter, having suffered serious 
military disasters in the Brazils, was unable tc 
afford any relief. 

Underbill and his subordinates were, however 
actively engaged to the best of their ability. Thi 
Indian villages on Long Island were attacked 
with partial success. The natives of Tappan 
were harassed, their corn destroyed, and their 
forts burned to the ground. Two other expedi- 
tions to Long Island, in 1644, were still more 
effective. In the first, one hundred Indians were 
killed, and several taken prisoners to New Am- 
sterdam. In the second, Underbill, with one 
hundred and twenty men, made a sudden descent 
upon a large Indian town, and falling upon the 
inhabitants while they were celebrating one of 
their annual festivals, slew five hundred of them, 
and set fire to their wigwams. 

By these fierce but energetic measures, the 
spirit of the confederacy was subdued. Several 
of the tribes solicited peace, but others still reso- 



1645.] TREATY OF PEACE. 77 

lutely held out. A reinforcement of Dutch troops 
from Curacoa, arriving in June, 1645, placed 
the colonists of New Netherland in a better con- 
dition to carry on the war. The Mohawks at 
length interposed. They sent an envoy to Man- 
hattan, to use his influence in favour of a peace. 
The overtures were successful. On the 30th of 
August, 1645, delegates from the hostile tribes 
met in council in the vicinity of Fort Amster- 
dam, and by a solemn treaty put an end to a 
war which had been conducted with equal ferocity 
by both parties. 



78 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1647. 



CHAPTER VL 

Close of the Indian war — Unpopularity of Keift — His recall and 
shipwreck — Governor Stuyvesant — Condition of New Neth- 
erland — Beaverswyk — New Amsterdam — Negotiations with 
New England — Provisional treaty — War between England 
and Holland — Prudent policy of Massachusetts — The Dutch 
solicit assistance from the Narragansetts — Reply of one of 
their chiefs — Swedish settlements on the Delaware — Fort 
Cassimer erected — Contentions with the Swedes — Capture 
of Fort Cassimer — Reduction of the Swedish province by 
StU3'vesant — Flourishing condition of New Netherland — In- 
ternal dissensions — 'Arbitrary rule of Stuyvesant — Claims of 
Maryland — Sale of Delaware to the city of Amsterdam — Po- 
litical privileges granted by Stuyvesant — Patent of Charles 
II. to the Duke of York — English force sent to take posses- 
sion of New Netherland — Surrender of the province. 

The close of the Indian -vvar was celebrated 
with great rejoicings by the harassed colonists of 
New Netherland; but Kieft, who laboured under 
the imputation of having provoked the disasters 
they had undergone, grew daily more unpopular. 
His arbitrary temper and reckless policy pro- 
duced numerous complaints among the colonists, 
and fostered a general desire for his removal. 
Fully conscious that the condition of antagonism 
which existed between the people of the province 
and their governor was greatly prejudicial to their 
commercial interests, the directors of the West 
India Company sought to restore harmony by the 
recall of Kieft, and the appointment of Peter 



1648.] PETER STUYVESANT. 79 

Stuyvesant in his place. At the same time, the 
few remaining commercial restrictions were 
abolished, and the trade thrown open to all com- 
petitors. 

Stuyvesant arrived in the province during the 
early part of May, 1647, and in the fall of the 
same year, Kieft sailed for Europe. The ship in 
which he embarked, laden with a valuable cargo 
of furs, was cast ashore on the coast of AVales, 
and the sanguinary governor, together with some 
eighty others, perished in the waves. 

The new director-general, or governor of New 
Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, was possessed of 
many estimable qualities. lie was a brave, frank, 
honest, and tolerably well-educated soldier. The 
commencement of his rule was marked by a more 
tolerant policy toward the neighbouring Indians, 
though he soon showed himself disposed to regard 
the poorer settlers with a feeling pretty closely 
allied to contempt. In comparison with the 
neighbouring English colonies, that of Man- 
liattan could not be said, up to this period, to 
have flourished. Its settlement, lucrative as 
the fur trade had proved itself at first, had not 
only absorbed the profits of the traffic, but had 
cost the Dutch West India Company a con- 
siderable sum besides. New England already 
contained twenty thousand inhabitants; while 
the whole of the settlers within the jurisdiction 
of New Ncthcrhuid did not exceed three 



80 HISTORY OE NEW YORK. [1650. 

thousand. A few houses were clustered about 
Fort Orange, or Beaverswyk, as the present 
town of Albany was then called. The island 
of Manhattan was still mostly forest land, many 
of the cleared plantations having been abandoned 
during the prevalence of the Indian war, and only 
some five or six of them, on the arrival of Stuyve- 
sant, continued to be successfully worked. New 
Amsterdam, the seat of government, was nothing 
but a mere village of huts, roughly constructed, 
protected by palisades, and by the fort of the 
same name, itself hardly in a defensible condition. 

One of the first duties which devolved upon 
Governor Stuyvesant was the arrangement of 
the long-pending territorial dispute with New 
England. This, however, was found to be a diffi- 
culty by no means easy to be settled harmoniously. 
The Puritan colonies were already powerful, both 
in numbers and unity of action ; and they were 
but little disposed to regard the protests of a 
weaker neighbour, whose title to any territory 
at all they had always questioned. To war, the 
Dutch West India Company were decidedly 
averse, both from the expense attendant upon its 
prosecution, and from the consciousness that a 
successful prosecution of it was altogether hope- 
less. 

Finding that negotiation from a distance made 
but slow progress, Stuyvesant bent his pride to 
the occasion, and visited Hartford in person. At 



IGol.] WAR BREAKS OUT. 81 

this place, on the 11th of November, 1650, he 
succeeded in concluding a provisional treaty, by 
which the New England commissioners consented 
to the partition of Long Island between them- 
selves and the Dutch, the boundary between the 
two colonies being settled to begin in the vicinity 
of Greenwich on the main, and to extend to Oys- 
ter Bay. The treaty received the consent of the 
Dutch West India Company, and was accepted 
by the States General; but it failed of being 
ratified in England. 

When the war broke out between England and 
Holland in 1651, it was at first supposed that it 
would involve the English and Dutch colonies in 
a similar struggle ; but Massachusetts restrained 
the ardour of the western settlements, who were 
anxious for the reduction of New Amsterdam, 
and urged it upon the colonies, as the safest and 
most prudent policy, ''to forbear the use of the 
sword, but to be in a posture of defence." 

Deeply apprehensive of such an attack, the 
Dutch West India Company had authorized Go- 
vernor Stuyvesant to purchase the aid of the 
Narragansetts ; but the latter firmly refused to 
render any assistance. When pressed by the 
offers of the Dutch, Mixam, one of the chiefs, 
nobly replied : "I am poor, but no presents of 
goods, or of guns, or of powder and shot, shall 
draw me into a conspiracy against my friends the 
English." 



82 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1655. 

Fortunately, the peace of 1653 put an end to 
all apprehension of an invasion from New Eng- 
land, and also effectually prevented the sailing of 
an expedition against New Amsterdam, which 
had been authorized by Cromwell. 

In addition to his difficulties with the New 
England colonies in relation to boundaries, and 
the subsequent danger of hostilities, Stuyvesant 
became uneasy at the growth of the Swedish set- 
tlements on the Delaware. At first, harassed by 
the prospect of a more imposing peril, and acting 
in obedience to the pacific policy of his superiors, 
he restricted himself merely to protecting the 
Dutch commerce in that quarter, by building 
Fort Cassimer, near the mouth of the Brandy- 
wine. 

As Fort Christiana was not more than five 
miles distant, the proximity of the rival garrisons 
speedily led to annoyances and contentions. 
These petty quarrels were kept up until 1654, 
when Risingh, the Swedish governor, drove out 
the Dutch troops, and took possession of their 
fort. The news of this high-handed measure was 
no sooner made known to the West India Com- 
pany, than Stuyvesant was ordered to drive the 
Swedes from the river, or compel their submis- 
sion. Such great preparations were accordingly 
made for this undertaking, that it was not until 
September, 1655, that the expedition was com- 
pletely organized. Sailing from New Amsterdam 



1G55.] RELIGIOUS TOLERATIOX. 83 

with a force of six liundred men, Stuyvesant en- 
tered the Delaware, and reduced fort after fort, 
without meeting with any resistance. Risingh 
capituhited on honourable terms, and the whole 
Swedish colony, amounting to seven hundred per- 
sons, acknowledged the jurisdiction of the States 
General, and were confirmed in the possession of 
their lands and personal property. 

From this period the province of New Nether- 
land steadily advanced in numbers and prosperity. 
The Dutch themselves began to appreciate its 
value ; and immigration to the banks of the Hud- 
son was encouraged by wise and liberal regula- 
tions. 

The religious tolerance extended to all comers 
influenced persons from all parts of Europe to 
take up their residence in the favoured land. Bo- 
hemia, Germany, England, France, Switzerland, 
and Italy aided to increase the population of 
NewNctherland ; and the little village of thatched 
huts on the island of Manhattan speedily ex- 
changed its rude and primitive dwellings for 
structures of a more imposing character. Fugi- 
tives from persecution in other lands found 
welcome and a home at New Amsterdam. Me- 
chanics, ''farmers and labourers, foreigners and 
exiles, men inured to toil and penury," were in- 
vited to assist in building up the colony, by the 
olTur of a free passage from the old world to the 
ncAV ; and the directors of the company had soon 



84 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1655. 

the satisfaction of perceiving that their liberal 
policy was productive of the most beneficial re- 
sults. 

The province of New Netherland, previously 
retarded in its growth by restrictions and mo- 
nopolies, now began to assume an importance 
which justified the most sanguine predictions of 
its future greatness. Agriculture flourished, 
timber was exported, mechanical labourers were 
in steady demand, and peace and plenty rewarded 
the toils of all. 

Among other commercial enterprises in which 
the AVest India Company were engaged at tliis 
period, was a traffic in slaves. A portion of 
these soon found a market at New Amsterdam. 
Others continued the property of the company, 
and these latter, after a certain period of service, 
were settled upon small farms, upon the condi- 
tion of paying annually a stipulated amount of 
produce. 

But in the midst of all this tolerance of opinion, 
the people of New Netherland were far from en- 
joying the same political privileges which were 
exercised by the neighbouring English colonies. 
In this respect, the directors of the company still 
continued arbitrary and unwise. The delegates 
elected to advise with the governor during the 
dangerous period of the Indian war had been 
tolerated no longer than their services were ac- 
tually necessary ; and although several attempts 



1656.] DISCONTENT OF THE PEOPLE. 85 

were subsequently made by the people to obtain 
some concessions of authority, all such efforts 
were stigmatized as factious, and speedily re- 
pressed. 

After numerous complaints had been made, 
commercial privileges were extended, but politi- 
cal enfranchisement was steadily denied. A con- 
vention, called by the people to assert their right 
to share in the enactment of laws for the proper 
government of the province, was dissolved by 
Stuyvesant, who regarded the demand as an in- 
novation from New England, and fraught with 
the most dangerous consequences. In answer to 
a petition which was presented to him, requiring 
that no new laws should be enacted but with the 
consent of the people, he haughtily told the 
deputation that the directors would never make 
themselves responsible to subjects, and that his 
autliority was derived "from God and the AYest 
India Company," and not from the pleasure of 
the wavering multitude. 

In this bold and arbitrary avowal, Stuyvesant 
was fully and amply sustained b}' the directors in 
Holland. They instructed him to pay no regard 
to the clamours of the people; but to let tliem 
fully understand that they must '^ indulge no 
longer the visionary dream that taxes could be 
imposed only with their consent." But the dis- 
content had already taken root, and although the 
acta of the sturdy old governor were sullenly 



8t HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1659. 

tolerated, tlie sentiment of loyalty was weakened, 
and a change of rulers began to be regarded 
not only without aversion, but as an object of 
desire. 

The western shore of the Delaware being 
claimed by Lord Baltimore, the proprietary of 
Maryland, the West India Company, fearful of 
encroachments from that quarter, and desirous 
of building up a barrier against any aggressions 
on their southern frontier, transferred their 
claim to all that portion of Delaware lying be- 
tween Cape Henlopcn and the falls of Trenton 
to the city of Amsterdam, which immediately pro- 
ceeded to colonize it, principally with indented 
servants. This scheme, however, soon proved 
partially unsuccessful. A condition of freedom, 
under the more liberal government of Maryland, 
induced many of the Dutch settlers to break 
through the restraints imposed upon them by 
their task-masters, and seek refuge in the terri- 
tory of the English. During the year 1659, 
Fendall, the governor of Maryland, laid formal 
claim to the possession of Delaware ; but he was 
answered by the Dutch envoy, that his people had 
purchased and colonized the territory in dispute, 
before the patent of Lord Baltimore was in ex- 
istence. The reply of Fendall being of a threat- 
ening character, and the claim of Lord Baltimore 
being pertinaciously reasserted by his agents, 
the directors of the West India Company adopted 



1650.] PROPRIETARY DISPUTES. 87 

the spirited resolution to defend their rights, 
"even to the spilling of blood." 

Similar troubles "were already in agitation at 
the north. Massachusetts claimed the right to 
extend the territory of that colony to the upper 
waters of the Hudson, and thence westwardly as 
far as they thought proper; while Connecticut 
had no sooner obtained a royal charter than 
claims were asserted under it to a considerable 
portion of territory over which the Dutch had 
previously exercised undisputed jurisdiction. 

Conscious of his inability to resist by force of 
arms the encroachments of his English neigh- 
bours, Stuyvesant went in person to Boston, in 
order to try what he could effect by negotiation. 
He met a convention of the New England colo- 
nies at that place, in September, 1663 ; but was 
compelled to return as he went, without being 
able to obtain, either then, or during the subse- 
quent month at Hartford, the recognition of any 
territory at all, as belonging of right to the pro- 
vince of New Netherland. To the cautious Pu- 
ritan diplomatists, the Dutch province was a 
fiction, inasmuch as the English laid claim to the 
whole of the continent discovered by Cabot. 

In the midst of these proprietary disputes, 
Stuyvesant, foreseeing the danger that was im- 
pending over the colony, sought to restore har- 
mony among the people of New Netherland them- 
selves, by granting them certain privileges which 



88 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1664. 

he had heretofore indignantly refused. In 1663, 
a popular assembly was conceded, which met in 
November of the same year, and in fuller num- 
bers during the spring of 1664. But that confi- 
dence which the government had superciliously 
alienated was not to be so easily regained. The 
privilege which had been extended to the "waver- 
ing multitude" had been extorted from the fears 
of the governor, and not from his sense of justice. 
An alarming invasion was threatened, and it was 
necessary to conciliate the people, in order to 
prevail upon them to take up arms in defence of 
the province. But the concessions came too late. 

In 1664, Charles II. granted to his brother 
James, Duke of York, a patent for all the main- 
land of New England, beginning at St. Croix, 
extending thence to the Pemaquid, and stretching 
across and embracing the whole territory, from 
Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. 

Without any previous declaration of war against 
the Dutch, three ships, with six hundred men, 
were despatched from England to take possession 
of New Netherland in the name of the Duke of 
York. These ships, having three commissioners 
on board, reached Boston in July; and toward 
the close of the following month, the troops 
pitched their camp on Long Island, on the site 
of the present city of Brooklyn. 

Governor Stuyvesant had received early intel- 
ligence of the sailing of this expedition and its 



16G4.] CAPTURED BY THE BRITISH. 89 

destination ; but all his efforts to arouse the spirit 
of the colonists were unavailing. Indeed, many 
of the latter, elated at the prospect of obtaining 
the same political privileges which were enjoyed 
by the neighbouring provinces, boldly denied that 
the Dutch had ever any right to the country. 

No sooner had one of the frigates entered 
Gravesend Bay, than Stuyvesant despatched a 
letter to the English commander, desiring to know 
the reason of his approach and anchorage in the 
harbour, without giving the customary notifica- 
tion. Sir Richard Nichols responded by a sum- 
mons of surrender, on the condition of security 
to the inhabitants of their estates, lives, and 
liberties. 

The governor, a brave old soldier, who had lost 
a limb in the service of the States, was desirous 
of making a sturdy defence ; but the council and 
burgomasters, whom he had convened for consul- 
tation, being well aware that any resistance they 
could offer would be of no avail, advised submis- 
sion, provided the terms offered in the summons 
were such as the inhabitants could accept. 

The fiery governor struggled hard to induce 
them to change their determination. lie refused 
to let them know the liberal conditions which had 
been offered, and upon their demanding a sight 
of the summons, his wrath kncAV no bounds; sud- 
denly producing the latter, he passionately tore 
it into shreds before their eyes. Finally, how- 



90 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1664. 

ever, after much contention, and aided by the 
good offices of Winthrop, the aged governor of 
Connecticut, Stuyvesant was driven to consent 
to a capitulation. The other settlements on the 
Hudson and Delaware swore allegiance to the 
English soon after, and the conquest of New 
Netherland was completed. 



CHAPTER VII. 

New Netherland becomes New York — Colonel Nichols gover- 
nor — Meeting on Long Island — Incorporation of the city of 
New York — Arbitrary system of government established — 
Lovelace appointed governor — War with the Dutch — New 
York reconquered — Administration of Colve — Retrocession of 
NewY'ork — Government of Andros — Difficulties with Connec- 
ticut — Spirited conduct of the Puritans — Disaffection of the 
people — A representative government demanded — Reply of 
the Duke of York — Description of the province — Its prosperity 
— City of New York, its population and public buildings — 
Character of the people — Andros recalled — Dongan appointed 
governor — Concession of political privileges — Indian affairs — 
Convention at Albany — Designs of the French — Instructions 
of the Duke of York — Conduct of Dongan — Invasion of the 
Five Nations by the French — Peace solicited' — Speech of De 
la Barre — Reply of Garrangula. 

New Netherland having thus, without blood- 
shed, become subjected to the English crown, 
Colonel Sir Richard Nichols took upon himself 
the government of the conquered province as 
deputy-governor, and in honour of the proprie- 



1665.] THE CITY INCORPORATED. 91 

tary, that portion of the territory retained by 
him, together with the little capital of New Am- 
sterdam, acquired the name of New York. 

All the tract of land previously belonging to 
New Netherland, which was bounded by the Dela- 
ware Bay on the west, by the ocean and the 
Hudson River on the east, and by the present 
state of New York on the north, having been 
granted by the duke to Lord Berkeley and 
Sir George Carteret, became henceforth a sepa- 
rate and distinct jurisdiction, under the name 
of the province of New Jersey. 

During the short period that Nichols remained 
governor of New York, commissioners, appointed 
for that purpose, determined the boundary be- 
tween the latter province and Connecticut, and 
under their decision the whole of Long Island 
was included within the territory of the new pro- 
prietary. 

On the 1st of March, 16G5, a convention of 
delegates was held at Hempstead, on Long 
Island, for the purpose of adjusting the limits of 
their respective townships, and the appointment 
of proper local officers. Three months later, the 
city of New York was incorporated, the exercise 
of municipal authority being intrusted to a mayor, 
five aldermen, and a sheriff; but the people tliem- 
Belves derived no political privileges from a 
change of rulers. The governor, and a council 
devoted to his interests, retained the sole right 



92 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1673. 

to impose taxes, and to enact or modify such laws 
throughout th^ province as they thought proper. 
This arbitrary mode of government was produc- 
tive of the usual discontent ; but Nichols, busied 
for the most of the time in confirming the ancient 
Dutch grants, paid no heed to the murmurs of 
<< factious republicans." 

Returning to England in 1667, he was succeed- 
ed by Francis Lovelace, who, following out the 
system adopted by his predecessor, took upon 
himself both the executive and judicial functions, 
and instructed his deputy on the western shore 
of the Delaware to repress all disaffection in that 
quarter, by laying such taxes upon the people as 
might give them "liberty for no thought but how 
to discharge them." 

Adopting this principle as his rule of action, 
Lovelace imposed a duty of ten per cent, upon 
all imports and exports. But this high-handed 
measure was met by a vigorous protest from eight 
of the Long Island towns, who boldly expressed 
their aversion to all taxes levied under the sole 
authority of the governor and council, and de- 
manded a participation in the government of the 
province by means of an annual assembly. Love- 
lace and his subservient subordinates responded 
to the protest by ordering it to be publicly burned 
by the common hangman. 

The affairs of the province continued to be ad- 
ministered in this despotic manner until 1673, 



1673.] RECAPTURED BY THE DUTCH. 93 

when Charles II., having been drawn by the in- 
trigues of Louis XIV. into a war with the Dutch, 
a small squadron belonging to the latter, and 
commanded by Cornelius Evertsen, anchored, on 
the oOth of July, in the vicinity of Staten Island. 

Lovelace appears to have been absent at this 
time, and Manning, the commandant of the fort, 
no sooner received a summons to surrender, than 
he sent a messenger to arrange the terms of ca- 
pitulation. Not a blow was struck. The people 
of New Jersey quietly returned to their old al- 
legiance, and the Swedes and Fins followed their 
example. The whole territory of New Nether- 
land having thus quietly submitted to the arms 
of the States General, Anthony Colve was ap- 
pointed governor-general, and Lovelace obtained 
permission to return to England in the Dutch 
fleet. Manning was subsequently tried by court- 
martial for treachery and coAvardice, and found 
guilty. Having, however, in the mean time, made 
interest in Enj^land with the kin^r and the Duke 
of York, he escaped being sentenced to death, but 
was adjudged to have his sword publicly broken 
over his head, and to be incapable of serving the 
crown for the future in any civil or military ca- 
pacity. 

Governor Colve retained his office but a 
short period, for at the close of the war, which 
took place in February, 1674, it was agreed by 
treaty mutually to restore all conquests. To re- 



§i HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1674. 

move any disputes which might subsequently arise 
in respect to his title in consequence of the pre- 
vious surrender of the province, the Duke of 
York obtained from the king a new patent, 
covering the same lands which had been granted 
him in 1664. On the 1st of August, two days 
after this patent was executed, the duke ap- 
pointed Major Edmund Andros to receive pos- 
session of the province at the hands of the Dutch 
authorities, and to renew the absolute authority 
of the proprietary. On the 31st of October, this 
was quietly accomplished. Hoping to obtain 
some concessions from the new governor, the in- 
habitants petitioned to be allowed an assembly, 
and Andros favoured the prayer ; but it was dis- 
approved of by the proprietary. The settlers of 
the eastern portion of Long Island, preferring 
the jurisdiction of Connecticut to that of New 
York, also petitioned Andros to be allowed to 
unite themselves with that colony; but, instead 
of their wishes being acceded to, the governor 
soon afterward organized an expedition for the 
purpose of asserting the claim of the Duke of 
York to all that territory embraced within his 
patent as far as the Connecticut River. As soon 
as these intentions were made known to Laet, the 
deputy-governor of Connecticut, he called the 
assembly together, who promptly ordered Captain 
Bull, in command of the colonial troops at Say- 
brook, to resist the advance of Andros. The order 



1679.] SnORT-SIGHTED POLICY. 95 

reached Saybrook almost simultaneonslj with the 
appearance of Andros before the town. 

He summoned the fort to surrender, and the 
sturdy Puritan commandant responded by hoist- 
ing his flag. Conscious that his force was too 
weak to carry the place by assault, Andros re- 
sorted to persuasion; but when he directed his 
commission and the duke's patent to be read in 
the hearing of the colonial troops, he was ordered 
to desist. Finding neither threats nor expostu- 
lations of any avail, he suifered himself to be 
escorted to his boat by the armed provincials, and 
set sail for New York. 

The exercise of his authority being continually 
clogged with difficulties, especially by the people 
of Long Island, many of whom were of Puritan 
descent, Andros strongly urged upon the Duke 
of York the policy of conceding to the people a 
representative form of government. To thiswise 
and judicious counsel, the duke replied by letter, 
dated the 1st of January, 1679 : — 

"I cannot but suspect that assemblies would 
be of dangerous consequence; nothing being more 
known than the aptness of such bodies to assume 
to themselves many privileges which prove de- 
structive to, or very often disturb tlic peace of 
goverpmofit when they arc allowed." 

Such' being the decision of tlie short-sig]itc<l 
proprietary, Andros was too obsequious a servant 
to persist in urgiug tlic popuhir demand. The 



96 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1679. 

province continued to prosper notwithstanding. 
It consisted at this time of twenty-four towns and 
villages, in six precincts, ridings, or courts of 
sessions. The number of its militia amounted to 
two thousand men. Its annual exports consisted 
of sixty thousand bushels of wheat, besides peas, 
beef, pork, tobacco, and furs. 

The city of New York contained some three 
thousand five hundred inhabitants, and about 
three hundred and fifty houses, almost all of which 
presented their gables to the streets, the most 
important public buildings being erected in the 
foreground, so as to be the more readily seen 
from the river. The chief part of the town, at 
this period, lay along the East River, and on the 
slope of the ridge forming the line of Broadway. 
In front of the town were constructed three half- 
moon forts, called Rondeels, which were erected at 
equal distances from each other, between Coenties 
Slip and Wall Street, the latter deriving its name 
from the line of palisades which stretched from 
that point to the junction of Grace and Lumber 
Streets, where the North River limits terminated 
in a redoubt. 

Apart from the unhappy dissensions arising 
from the denial of the right to govern themselves, 
the inhabitants of the province of New York were 
both peaceful and prosperous. Having but few 
wants, and simple in their tastes, "a wagon gave 
as good content as in Europe a coach, and their 



1683.] COLONEL DOXGAN, GOVERXOR. 97 

home-made cloth as the finest hawns. The doors 
of the low-roofed houses, which luxury never 
entered, stood wide open to charity and the 
stranfrer." A merchant worth five thousand dol- 
lars was accounted an opulent man ; and a farmer 
worth half that sum in personal property was 
regarded as rich; but the merchants were not 
many, the slaves were few, and servants greatly 
in demand. 

But the consciousness of being deprived of 
those political rights which were enjoyed by all 
the other English colonies was a constant source 
of unhappiness and disaffection, especially among 
the people of Long Island, who had struggled for 
many years to obtain the same liberty of self- 
government which was exercised by their kindred 
of Connecticut. It was therefore with feelings 
of the utmost gratification tliat they hailed the 
recall of Andros in 1082, and the appointment 
of Colonel Dongan as governor of the province. 

Repeated importunities and petitions having 
at length convinced even the obtuse mind of the 
Duke of York, tliat his narrow provincial policy 
was fast bringing his authority into contempt, and 
alienating the aifections of the people, he con- 
descended to take counsel of William Penn, and 
instructed Dongan to convene a general .assem- 
bly. After many delays, the new governor 
reached New York on the 27th of August, 1683, 
and almost immediately afterwai'd issued a pro- 



98 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1683. 

clamation to the freeholders, empowering them 
to elect delegates to the legislature. 

On the 17th of October, 1683, the first assem- 
bly met. It consisted of the governor, his coun- 
cil of ten, and seventeen members chosen by the 
people, to form the house of representatives. 
The most important act of the session was the 
adoption of a declaration of rights. This charter 
proclaimed that, " Supreme legislative power shall 
for ever be, and reside, in the governor, council, 
and people, met in general assembly. Every 
freeholder and freeman shall vote for representa- 
tion without restraint. No freeman shall suffer 
but by judgment of his peers ; and all trials shall 
be by a jury of twelve men. No tax shall be 
assessed on any pretence whatever, but by the 
consent of the assembly. No seaman or soldier 
shall be quartered on the inhabitants against 
their will. No martial law shall exist. No per- 
son professing faith in God by Jesus Christ shall 
at any time be any ways disquieted, or questioned, 
for any difference of opinion." Such was the 
language of the earliest popular charter of New 
York. The despotism under which the people 
had so long groaned had taught them a just con- 
sideration for the liberty of others. 

The spirit of discontent being appeased by the 
concession of political privileges. Governor Don- 
gan next turned his attention to Indian affairs. 
For a long series of years the French in Canada 



1G84.] INDIAN AFFAIRS. 99 

had vainly endeavoured to break down tlie power 
of the Iroquois, and detach them from their alli- 
ance, at first with the Dutch, and subsequently 
with the English. But neither hostile invasions 
nor the preaching of Jesuit missionaries could 
win those proud and independent warriors to ac- 
knowledge the supremacy of France. But even 
while disposed to maintain a friendship with the 
English, they were not insensible of the neglect 
which they had met with at the hands of Love- 
lace, and in their war-parties along the frontiers 
of New York, Maryland, and Virginia, had re- 
sented the aggressions of the whites. Soon after 
tlie commencement of Dongan's administration, 
the principal chiefs of the Five Nations were in- 
vited to meet in grand convention at Albany, for 
the purpose of renewing the old treaty of peace, 
and putting an end to this desultory warfare. 
In the mean time, the French, under De la Barre, 
were organizing a large army, with the avowed 
purpose of utterly exterminating the Five Na- 
tions, and Governor Dongan received instructions 
from the Duke of York to throw no obstacles in 
their way. Too conscientious to regard any such 
ruthless orders, Dongan warned the Indians of the 
impending danger, and promised them assistance. 
In accordance with their previous agreement, 
deputies from the Mohawks, Oncidas, Cayugas, 
Onondngas, and Senecas, met the governors of 
New York and Virginia at Albany, on the 13th 



100 HISTORY OF XEW YORK. [1684. 

of July, 1684, where a treaty of peace was made 
with the offending tribes, the Mohawks and Sene- 
cas, "never having broken the ancient chain," 
being witnesses to the same. 

The warriors had scarcely dissolved the coun- 
cil and returned to their villages, before De la 
Barre invaded the Iroquois territory with an 
army of seventeen hundred men. Bad provisions, 
however, and the miasma arising from the marshes 
of Ontario, had so weakened his troops by sick- 
ness, that, after a delay of six weeks at Fort 
Frontenac, he crossed the lake, and invited the 
chiefs of the Five Nations to meet him and con- 
clude a treaty of peace. 

The Mohawks and Senecas, acting under the 
advice of Dongan, refused to attend; but the 
Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas, influenced by 
the Jesuit missionaries, concluded to visit the 
French governor in his camp, and hear Avhat he 
had to say. 

Two days after their arrival a council was held. 
Addressing himself to Garrangula, an Onondaga 
chief, De la Barre said: '' The king, my master, 
being informed that the Five Nations have often 
infringed the peace, has ordered me to come 
hither with a guard, and to send Ohguesse to the 
Onondagas to bring the chief sachems to my 
camp. The intention of the great king is, that 
you and I may smoke the calumet of peace to- 
gether; but upon this condition : that you promise 



1(384.] DE LA CARRE'S SPEECH. 101 

me in the name of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onon- 
dagns, Oneidas, and Mohawks, to give entire 
satisfaction and reparation to his subjects, and 
for the future never to molest them. 

"This is what I have to say to Garrangula, 
that he may carry to the other chiefs the declara- 
tion which I make. The king, my master, does 
not wish them to force him to send a great army 
to Cadaracqui Fort, to begin a war, which must 
be fatal to them. He would be sorry that this 
fort, which was the work of peace, should become 
the prison of your warriors. We must endeavour, 
on both sides, to prevent such misfortunes. The 
French, who are the brethren and friends of the 
Five Nations, will never trouble their repose, 
provided that the satisfaction which I demand be 
given, and that the treaties of peace be hereafter 
observed. I shall be extremely grieved if my 
v.ords do not produce the effect which I expect 
from them; for then I shall be obliged to join 
with the Governor of New^ York, who is command- 
ed by his master to assist me, and burn the cas- 
tles of the Five Nations, and destroy you. This 
belt confirms my words." 

Unmoved by the threat with wliicli De la Barre 

had closed his address, the proud Onondaga 

chieftain, perfectly aware of the weak condition 

of the army which had marclied so exultingly 

from Canada to exterminate his people, walked 

five or six times round the circle, and then, halt- 
9* 



102 HISTORY or NEV/ YORK. [1684. 

ing before the French governor, who was seated 
in an elbow chair, he answered with the most sar- 
castic irony: — 

^'Yonnondio, I honour you, and the warriors 
that are with me likewise honour you. Your in- 
terpreter has finished his speech; I now begin 
mine. My words make haste to reach your 
ears: hearken to them. Yonnondio, you must 
have believed, when you left Quebec, that the 
sun had burnt up all the forests which render our 
castles inaccessible to the French; or that the 
lakes had so far overflowed their banks that they 
had surrounded our castles, and that it was im- 
possible for us to get out of them. Yes, Yonnon- 
dio, surely you must have dreamed so, and the 
curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought 
you so far. Now you are undeceived, since I 
and the warriors here present are come to assure 
you that the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, 
Oneidas, and Mohawks are yet alive. Hear, 
Yonnondio. I do not sleep. I have my eyes 
open ; and the sun, which enlightens m^e, discovers 
to me a great captain at the head of a company 
of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. 
He says that he only came to the lake to smoke 
the great calumet with the Onondagas. But Gar- 
rangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it 
was to knock them on the head, if sickness had 
not weakened the arms of the French." 

Continuing his speech in the same strain of 



1684.] REPLY OF GARRAXGULA. 103 

fierce sarcasm, lie told De la Barre that tlie Great 
Spirit had saved the lives of the French by afilictiiig 
them with sickness ; for if they had not been thus 
stricken down by a higher Power, the very women, 
and children, and old men of the Iroquois would 
have stormed the heart of the French camp. In 
ansv>'er to the accusation of being subject to the 
English, he said proudly: "We are born free; 
we neither depend upon Yonnondio nor Corlear. 
We may go where we please, and carry with us 
whom we please ; and buy and sell what we please ; 
if jouY allies are slaves, use them as such. This 
belt preserves my words. ' ' When he had justified 
the wars of the Five Nations with the Indian 
tribes friendly to the French, he thus concluded: 

"Hear, Yonnondio. What I say is the voice 
of the Five Nations. Hear what they answer ; 
open your ears to what they speak. The Sene- 
cas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks 
say, that when they buried the hatchet at Cada- 
racc^ui, in the presence of your predecessor, and 
in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of 
peace in the same place, to be there carefully pre- 
served ; that instead of a retreat for soldiers, the 
fort might become a rendezvous for merchants; 
that in place of arms and munitions of war, 
beavers and merchandise should only enter there. 

''Hear, Yonnondio. Take care for the future, 
that so great a number of soldiers as appear there 
do not choke the tree of peace planted in so small 



104 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1684. 

ti fort. It will be a great loss, if, after it had so 
easily taken root, you should stop its growth and 
prevent its covering your country and ours with 
its branches. I assure you, in the name of the 
Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the 
calumet of peace under its leaves, and shall remain 
quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the 
hatchet till their brother Yonnondio or.Corlear, 
shall, either jointly or separately, endeavour to 
attack the country which the Great Spirit gave 
to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words ; 
and this other, the authority which the Five Na- 
tions have given me." 

Then turning to Le Main, the interpreter, he 
said: ^'Take courage, Ohguesse; you have spirit, 
speak; explain my words; forget nothing; tell 
all that your brethren and friends say to Yon- 
nondio, your governor, by the mouth of Garran- 
gula, Avho loves you, and desires you to accept of 
this present of beaver, and take part with me in 
my feast, to which I invite you. This present 
of beaver is sent to Yonnondio on the part of the 
Five Nations." 

And so ended this remarkable speech, one of 
the finest examples of barbarous eloquence to be 
found in any language. Utterly confounded by 
the bold reply of the Onondaga chieftain, De la 
Barre hastily accepted a treaty, the terms of 
which he was not in a condition to dispute, and 
retired with his shattered forces to Montreal. 



1685.] CANADIAN AFFAIRS. 105 



CHAPTER yill. 

Canadian affairs — Dcnonvillc supersedes De la Barre — Pre- 
pares for war — Marches against the Iroquois — Is attacked — 
Retires into Canada — Fate of the French garrison at Niaga- 
ra — RetaUation of the Iroquois — Ncgociations for peace — 
Reply of Governor Dongan — Speech of Garrangula — Coun- 
cil at Montreal — Stratagem of the Dinondadie Indians — Re- 
newal of hostilities — Dreadful massacre of the French — 
Aft'airs of New York — Disaffection in England — Landing of 
William, Prince of Orange — Flight of James — Revolution 
in the provinces — Dongan recalled — Agitation in New York 
— The fort seized hy Leisler — William and Mary proclaimed 
— Leisler governor — Count Frontenac appointed governor 
of Canada — Negotiates with the Five Nations — Wnv between 
England and France — Burning of Schenectad}' — Difficulties 
in New York. 

The unsuccessful expedition of Dc la Barre 
and its disgraceful termination ^vere no sooner 
made known in France, than a reinforcement of 
troops was ordered into Canada, and the IMarquis 
Denonville appointed to supersede De la Barre in 
the government of that province. An enei'getic 
soldier, extolled for his courage, uprightness, and 
piety, Denonville speedily sought to retrieve tlie 
lionourof the Frencli arms. In order to control 
the Iroquois, and, at the same time, command tlic 
fur trade of the lakes, he suggested to tlic French 
government the propriety of establishing a fort 
at Niagara. In the mean time he i)repared for 
active operations against tlie Five Nations, by 



106 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1687. 

pushing forward extraordinary supplies to Fort 
Frontenac. 

Penetrating at once the design of the new 
French governor, Dongan WTOte to w^arn him, 
that any attack upon the Indian confederacy 
would be resented by the English, whose allies 
they were. Affairs remained in this disturbed 
condition until 1687, when the Miamis being 
threatened with war by the Iroquois, Denonville 
determined, by invading the latter, to force them 
to forego their purpose. Collecting at Montreal 
two thousand troops and six hundred friendly 
Indians, he sent orders to the commanders of out- 
posts to meet him with reinforcements at Niaga- 
ra, for an expedition against the Senecas. The 
Five Nations immediately prepared for war. 
Embarking his whole army in canoes, Denonville 
set out from Fort Cadaracqui on the 23d of June, 
and sailing down the lake in two divisions, land- 
ed at Tyrondequait, and marched against the 
principal town of the Senecas, seven leagues dis- 
tant. In the mean time. Monsieur Companie, 
with an advance party of some three hundred 
Canadians, had surprised two villages of the 
Onondagas, who, reposing upon the good faith of 
the missionary Lamberville, had settled them- 
selves peacefully about eight leagues from the 
lake. To guard against their giving the alarm 
to their countrymen, these Indians were ruthless- 
ly seized and "carried to the fort. Reserving 



1687.] BATTLE WITH THE SEXECAS. 107 

thirteen of the principal -vvarriors to be sent as 
galley slaves to France, the remainder were tor- 
tured at the stake, where, singing their death- 
song to the last, they died heroically. 

Throwing forward a detachment of traders and 
friendly Indians as scouts, Denonville followed 
with the main body, which was composed of the 
regulars and militia. On the second day of the 
march, the vanguard reached the vicinity of the 
town. Seeing no one, and supposing tlic place 
to have been deserted, they quickened their pace 
to overtake the fugitives. Suddenly, five hun- 
dred Senecas sprang from their ambusli, and, 
raising the war-cry, charged upon the advance, 
and upon the main body which hastened up to 
its support. In a moment all was confusion. 
Kolled back upon each other by the unexpected- 
ness of the attack, the French retreated in disor- 
der, and took refuge in the neighbouring woods. 
The firmness of the Indian allies alone retrieved 
the fortunes of the day. Gathering courage from 
the example of the latter, the regulars under De- 
nonville were rallied, and again led to the attack, 
which finally ended in the repulse of the Senecas. 

But the victory was dearly bought. Disheart- 
ened by his losses, and the sturdy resistance he 
had met with, Denonville contented himself with 
burning the Seneca village, and torturing two old 
men found in it. Afraid to pursue the fugitives, 
he retired with his army to the south-enst side of 



108 HISTORY or NEW YORK. [1687. 

the straits, at Niagara, where he built a fort; 
and leaving within it a garrison of one hundred 
men, under the command of the Chevalier de la 
Troje, returned into Canada with the remainder 
of his army. 

He had no sooner evacuated the country of the 
Iroquois, than the Senecas reoccupied it, and in- 
vesting the garrison of Niagara, succeeded in 
cutting off the communication, until all but eight 
men perished miserably by famine. 

Lamberville, the missionary, who had been the 
unconscious cause of the massacre of the Onon- 
dagas at Fort Cadaracqui, was soon after sum- 
moned by some aged chiefs into their presence. 
"We have much reason," said one of them, "to 
treat thee is an enemy ; but we know thee too 
well. Thou hast betrayed us, but treason was 
not in thy breast. Fly, therefore ; for when our 
young braves shall have sung their war-song, they 
will listen to no voice but the swesUing voice of 
their anger." Humanely considerate for his 
safety, even in the midst of their ovrn sorrow, 
they ordered trusty guides to conduct him se- 
cretly to a place of security. 

On the 5th of August, Governor Dongan met 
the chiefs of the Five Nations in council at Alba- 
nv, and warmly commended the courage they 
had exhibited in defending their country against 
the advance of the French. He advised, that 
the Christian Indians who had removed into Ca- 



1688.] ADVANCE OF GAKRAXGULA. 109 

nada should be invited to return and settle them- 
selves within the limits of their own territory, 
and strongly cautioned his allies to make no peace 
■with the French, except through his agency. 

Throughout the whole of 1688, the Senecas, 
Onondagas, and Mohawks continued a fierce re- 
taliatory war upon the Canadians. Fort Cham- 
b]y was beset, the houses in the vicinity burned 
to the ground, and the warriors returned in tri- 
umph with numerous captives to Albany. Several 
French soldiers were captured near Fort Fronte- 
nac, by the Onondagas, and held by them as 
hostages until their sachems should be returned 
to their own country, unharmed, from the galleys 
of Marseilles. 

Denonville applied, through Pere le Vaillant, 
to Governor Dongan, to negotiate a peace and use 
his influence for a restoration of the captives. 
Dongan answered, that no peace could be made 
with the Five Nations until the Onondaga sa- 
chems were released from the French galleys and 
sent home, the Christian Indians returned to their 
own country, the forts at Niagara and Frontenac 
razed, and compensation made to the Senecas for 
the damage they had sustained. 

Denonville indignantly refused to purchase a 
peace on any such humiliating terms, and Gar- 
rangula immediately advanced at tlie head of five 
liundred warriors. "I have always loved tlie 
French," said the scornful chieftain. "Our war- 
10 



110 HLSTORY OF NEW YORK. [1688. 

viors proposed to come and burn your forts, your 
houses, your granges, and your corn ; to weaken 
you by famine, and then to overwhelm you. I am 
come to tell Yonnondio he can escape this misery, 
if, within four days, he will yield to the terms which 
Corlear has proposed." Thus haughtily threat- 
ened, Denonville yielded. A truce being pro- 
claimed, twelve hundred warriors met the French 
governor in council at Montreal, and dictated a 
treaty of peace on the conditions previously 
offered by Governor Dongan. As the Mohawks 
and Senecas were not represented at the council, 
Denonville required that deputies from them 
should also come forward and ratify the treaty 
on the part of their respective nations. To this 
requisition the other chiefs agreed, and the terms 
of the treaty having been arranged, the conven- 
tion was dissolved. 

But while the prospects of peace were thus 
brightening, a singular artifice, adopted by a tribe 
of Indians friendly to the French, suddenly in- 
spired the Iroquois with sentiments of the bitter- 
est hostility. 

The Dinondadies, an Indian tribe at war with 
the Five Nations, desirous of preventing a good 
understanding between the French and the Iro- 
quois, executed the following stratagem to effect 
their purpose. One hundred warriors, led by 
Adario, their chief, suddenly intercepted the de- 
puties of the confederated cantons, at the falls of 



1688.] INDIAN STRATAGEM. Ill 

the Cadaracqiii, or Ontario River, while they 
were on their way to Montreal to ratify the 
treaty of peace previously agreed upon. Some 
were killed, and the remainder taken prison- 
ers. Adario then boasted to the latter that he 
owed his success to the French governor, who 
had given him timely information of the approach 
of fifty Iroquois warriors. Surprised at this ap- 
parently treacherous conduct, the ambassadors 
communicated to the chief the peaceful object of 
their journey. Feigning the utmost indignation 
and remorse at having been made an instrument 
of the basest treacher}^, Adario instantly ordered 
the captives to be set free. " Go, my brethren," 
said he ; "I untie your bonds and send you home 
again, though our nations be at war. The French 
governor has made me commit so black an action, 
that I shall never rest easy until your people 
shall ha^'e taken a full revenge." 

Giving implicit credence to the story told by 
Adario, the Five Nations no sooner heard of the 
outrage which had been committed upon the per- 
sons of their ambassadors, than, animated by the 
keenest thirst for revenge, they collected twelve 
hundred warriors, and on the 26th of July, 1688, 
landed on the soutli side of the island of Mon- 
treal, burned, sacked, ravaged, and plundered all 
the surrounding settlements, up even to the very 
gates of the city; slew one thousand of the in- 
habitants, and carrying off twenty-six captives. 



112 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1688. 

tortured them to death at the stake. Not con- 
tent with this terrible retaliation, thej returned 
again to the island in October, and committed 
further devastations of the most sanguinary and 
barbarous character. Perfectly paralyzed with 
terror, the French made no resistance ; and the 
confederates, gaining increased confidence with 
success, swept over the whole of Canada, carry- 
ing destruction wherever they went. Only a few 
fortified places remained, and these owed their 
safety more to the ignorance of the savages in 
the art of attacking them, than to the courage of 
their respective garrisons. Of the neighbouring 
Indian tribes, only two remained faithful to the 
French in their adversity. All the others repu- 
diated their alliance, and made peace with the 
Iroquois and the English. Had the latter ren- 
dered the least assistance to the Five Nations, 
the whole French dominion in Canada would have 
been at an end. As it was, the cities of Quebec, 
Montreal, and Trois Rivieres alone remained ; the 
whole country south of the lakes being perma- 
nently conquered by the confederated warriors. 

During the progress of these events, great po- 
litical changes were taking place in the provinces. 
The attempt of James II. to bring about a resto- 
ration of the Catholic religion, had rendered him 
odious to the English people ; and the birth of a 
son in 1688, having destroyed all hope of a Pro- 
testant succession, William, Prince of Orange, the 



1689.] WILLIAM AND MARY PROCLAIMED. 113 

cliampion of Protestantism in Europe, who had 
married Mary, the eldest daughter of James, was 
invited to take upon himself the government of 
the kingdom. Complying with the popular wish, 
William landed in England in the fall of 1688, 
and James, deserted even by his own children, 
was compelled to take refuge in France. 

The news of this great Protestant revolution 
reached Boston on the 4th of April, 1689. An- 
dres, who had been appointed governor of that 
province, was immediately deposed; the charter, 
of which he had deprived the people, was resumed ; 
and the aged Bradstreet, whom Andros had su- 
perseded in office, reinstated as chief magistrate. 
During the month of May, Connecticut followed 
the example of Massachusetts, deposed the royal 
governor, and re-elected Robert Treat. Rhode 
Island adopted similar measures. Virginia hesi- 
tated for a short time, but at length proclaimed 
"William and Mary "Lord and Lady" of the pro- 
vince. 

In New York, the tidings occasioned great agi- 
tation. Tlie wise and politic Dongan having been 
recalled by James, a short time previously, the 
government of the province had been transferred 
into the hands of liis deputy Francis Nicholson. 
A rumour was spread, that the friends of the de- 
posed king intended to confirm liis authority by 
a massacre of the disaffected ; a fierce popular 
excitement was created; a mob paraded the 
10* 



114 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1689. 

streets; five militia companies, the only military 
force in the city, surromided the house of Jacob 
Leisler, a merchant, and their senior captain, and 
demanded that he should place himself at their 
head and seize the fort. It -^vas captm^ed on the 
1st of June, with the stores and public money ; 
and the companies took upon themselves garrison 
duty alternately. Nicholson, deprived of his au- 
thority, sailed for England. A committee of 
safety was immediately formed, and Leisler ap- 
pointed captain of the fort, with gubernatorial 
powers, until such time as an officer, duly com- 
missioned, should be sent from England. 

After proclaiming William and Mary at the 
sound of the trumpet, Leisler wrote to the king, 
explaining his proceedings, and accounting for 
the use he had made of the money found in the 
fort. At this period, Milbourne, the son-in-law 
of Leisler, a man of great energy and ambition, 
arrived from England, and was made secretary 
of the province. The old council, finding it im- 
possible to resist, with any hope of success, the 
self-constituted authorities of New York, retired 
to Albany, where a convention was held, which 
proclaimed allegiance to William and Mary, but 
rejected the authority of Leisler, and refused 
to surrender the fort to Milbourne, who, with 
an insufficient force, had been sent up to de- 
mand it. 

Soon after this, a letter reached New York, 



1690.] APPOIXTMENT OF FRONTENAC. 115 

addressed to Nicholson, or in the event of his 
absence, to "such as for the time being take 
care for preserving the peace, and administering 
the law in New York." In this letter a commis- 
sion as governor w^as enclosed for Nicholson ; but 
as the latter had already sailed for England, 
Leisler, under the supposed sanction of the super- 
scription, continued in authority. 

In the mean time, the disasters of Denonville 
in Canada had led to his recall, and the appoint- 
ment of Count Frontenac as governor-general. 
Although then in his sixty-eighth year, Fronte- 
nac, within a few days after his landing at Que- 
bec, started in a canoe for Montreal, to animate 
the desponding inhabitants, and renew the French 
alliances with the neighbouring Indian tribes. 
This was the more necessary as the French mo- 
narch had espoused the cause of the exiled James, 
and had declared war a^-ainst Enf]^land. Messen- 
gers were also sent into the Iroquois territory to 
conciliate the friendship of the Five Nations. A 
council was accordingly held on the 22d of Janu- 
ary, IGOO, at Onondaga, at which eighty chiefs 
of the confederated cantons were present. Du- 
ring the conference the Indian delegates pro- 
fessed themselves disposed to listen to terms of 
peace, but evaded the desire of Frontenac to ne- 
gotiate a treaty. 

Desirous, by a display of energy and courage, 
to force the proud warriors to regard an alliance 



116 HISTORY OF KEW YORK. [1690. 

with France in a more favourable light, Fronte- 
nac determined to carry the war into the English 
provinces. 

Three separat'e expeditions were accordingly 
organized, the first of which, led bj De Mantet 
and Sainte Helene, was to make a sudden and 
unexpected descent upon New York. The second, 
led by Hertel, was to surprise the settlement at 
Salmon Falls, on the Piscataqua ; while the third, 
commanded by Portneuf, was ordered to attack 
the fort and settlement at Casco Bay. They 
were all successful. The war party under De 
Mantet and Sainte Helene, and consisting of one 
hundred and ten French and Indians, left Mon- 
treal about the middle of January, 1690. After 
a march of twenty-two days over the frozen sur- 
face of the wilderness, during which ihej subsist- 
ed upon parched corn, and such game as could 
be procured by their hunters, they entered, just 
before midnight, the village of Schenectady, on 
the Mohawk River. Passing within the pali- 
sades, the gates of which were open and unguard- 
ed, they divided themselves into parties of six or 
seven each, and while the inhabitants were buried 
in profound slumber, the war-whoop was suddenly 
raised, and the doors of the houses bm^st forcibly 
opened. An indiscriminate massacre was imme- 
diately commenced. Men, women, and children 
were put to death in a manner too barbarous to 
relate. The whole village was set on fire, and by 



1690.] MASSACRE AT sciib;nectadt. 117 

the flames, the rifle, and the tomahawk, sixty 
persons perished, and twenty-seven were carried 
off into captivity. Those who escaped the fury of 
the assailants, fled, half-clad, through a driving 
snow, toward Albany, twenty-five of whom sub- 
sequently lost their limbs, through their exposure 
to the severities of the weather during that 
dreadful night. The enemy remained in posses- 
sion of the village until noon the following day, 
when, fearful of being intercepted on their return 
by the Iroquois, they retreated hastily into Ca- 
nada. 

The citizens of Albany, alarmed at this daring 
invasion, and weakened by internal discord, no 
longer held out against Milbourne, who was ap- 
proaching a second time ; but passively submitted 
the fort into his hands. Unhappily, the province 
still continued to be torn by dissensions; and 
while the popular faction clamorously sustained 
the measures of Leisler, the tory or aristocratic 
party placed themselves in direct and vehement 
opposition. 



118 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1690. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Invasion of Canada resolved upon — Failure of the expedition — 
Arrival of Ingoldsby at New York — The fort blockaded — Ar- 
rival of Governor Sloughter — Arrest of Leisler and his coun- 
cil — Leisler and Milbourne tried and sentenced to death — 
Their execution — Appeal to the king by the son of Leisler — 
Report of the commissioners — Appeal to parliament — Re- 
versal of the sentence against Leisler and Milbourne — Death 
of Sloughter — Fletcher appointed governor — His character — 
Frontenac invades the country of the Five Nations — His 
march from Montreal — Falls upon the IMohavvk villages — 
Returns to Canada — Activity of Schuyler — ^Of Fletcher — 
His popularity with the Indians — Convention at Albany — 
Conduct of Fletcher toward the provincial assembly — Resist- 
ance of the latter — Activity of Frontenac — Invades the Onon- 
dagas — Torture of an aged chief — Meagre results of the ex- 
pedition. \ 

The terrible loss effected by the French de- 
tachment upon the frontier settlements, proving 
to the English provinces the necessity of united 
action, a convention of delegates from Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut was held at New York, on 
the 1st of May, 1690, when it was resolved that 
a force of nine hundred men, from Connecticut 
and New York, should march overland against 
Montreal ; while Massachusetts despatched a fleet 
and army against Quebec. Both expeditions 
proved signally unsuccessful. A disagreement 
between the leaders occasioned insubordination 
among the troops, and the land forces separating. 



1691.] ARRIVAL OF INCOLDSEY. 119 

returned home, exasperated by mutual misunder- 
standings. The command of the naval expedition 
was intrusted to Sir William Phipps. He sailed 
up the St. Lawrence with a fleet of thirty-two 
vessels, and anchoring before Quebec on the 18th 
of October, sent a messenger to Frontenac, de- 
manding a surrender of the town. ^'I'll answer 
your master by the mouths of my cannon," was 
the reply of the brave old governor. Two at- 
tempts were immediately made to land below the. 
town, but they were both repulsed with loss. The 
forts opening their fire soon after, the provincials 
were compelled to abandon the assault and retire 
with precipitation. 

In January, 1691, Ingoldsby reached New 
York, from England, bearing a commission as 
captain. On his arrival he demanded possession 
of the fort ; but Leisler refused to give it up, con- 
tending that Ingoldsby had exhibited no order 
from the crown, or from Sloughter, who was 
known to have received the commission of gover- 
nor, tliough he had not yet made his appearance 
in the province. Irritated at finding his autliority 
disputed, Ingoldsby, supported by the royalists, 
blockaded the fort with his troops, and issued 
a proclamation denouncing the governor and 
his garrison. The passions of the militia being 
aroused, shuts were exchanged during the invest- 
ment, by which, greatly to the grief of Leisler, 
several lives were lost. 



120 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1691. 

On the 19th of March, Sloughter reached New 
York. In the disordered state of the province, 
an able and energetic governor would have 
speedily remedied many of the evils which had 
been fostered by the violence of contending fac- 
tions. Sloughter was neither able nor energetic ; 
but licentious, avaricious, and poor. Prepossessed 
against Leisler before his arrival, he declined to 
receive his messengers, or to recognise him in 
any other light than as an usurper, and Ingoldsby 
was at once ordered to arrest the obnoxious go- 
vernor and his council. Soon after their arrest, 
a special court was organized for their trials. Six 
of the prisoners were found guilty of treason, but 
reprieved. Leisler and Milbourne denied the 
jurisdiction of the court, and appealed to the 
king. Leisler insisted that the letter addressed 
to "such as for the time being take care for pre- 
serving the peace and administering the laws in 
their majesties' province of New York," justified 
his retaining the office of lieutenant-governor; 
and the obsequious judges referred the argument 
to the opinion of the governor and council. They 
decided that no such interpretation could be put 
upon the superscription; and the unfortunate 
governor and his son-in-law were condemned to 
death for high treason. One hope of escape from 
an ignominious death yet remained. Sloughter 
had pronounced them great villains, but hesitated 



1601.] EXECUTIOX OF LEISLEPw. 121 

to order their execution until the pleasure of the 
king should be made known. 

The friends of Leisler boldly defended his con- 
duct, and denounced the malignity of his enemies ; 
but tlie latter, now grown numerous, supported as 
they were by the influence of the new governor, 
demanded that the law should be put in force. In 
the midst of these disturbances the assembly met. 
It was soon found to be composed of persons at- 
tached to the aristocratic faction, and, of course, 
bitterly hostile to Leisler and his son-in-law. A 
motion was made for their reprieve ; but resolu- 
tions were passed on the 17th of April, 1691, 
declaring the conduct of the prisoners illegal and 
arbitrary, and imputing to their usurpations the 
burning of Schenectady, and the ruin of various 
merchants. The council then demanded of Slough- 
tcr their immediate execution, as essential to the 
welfare of the province. As the governor still 
liesitated, the enemies of Leisler adopted a strata- 
gem to eifcct their purpose. A dinner party was 
given, to which the governor was particularly in- 
vited. While he was under the influence of wine, 
he was cajoled into signing the death-warrants, 
and before he recovered his senses the sentence 
was carried into effect. 

On the 16th of May, in the midst of a cold 
drizzling rain, the prisoners were led to the gal- 
lows, wliich stood outside the city wall. Guarded 
by the troops, the sad procession moved on, 
11 



122 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1692. 

thronged about by weeping friends, and exulting 
enemies. "Weep not for us," said Leisler to the 
sorrowing populace, "we are going to our God; 
but weep for yourselves, that remain behind in 
misery and vexation." The handkerchief was 
bound about his face. "I hope," said he, "these 
eyes shall see our Lord Jesus in heaven." They 
were his last words. Milbourne's were not less 
pathetic. "I die," he exclaimed, "for the king 
and queen, and the Protestant religion in which 
I was born and bred. Father, into thy hands I 
commit my spirit." In the midst of torrents of 
rain, the people rushed forward to obtain some 
memento of their leaders. 

The appeal to the king, which Leisler had not 
been permitted to take, was prosecuted by his 
son. It was referred to the Lords Commissioners 
of Trade, who, after a patient hearing, decided, on 
the 11th of March, that the " deceased were con- 
demned and had suffered according to law;" but 
declared their families to be fit objects of royal 
compassion. The report was approved, but the 
estates of the victims of party animosity were 
ordered to be restored to their families. Not 
satisfied with this decision, the friends of Leisler 
appealed, to parliament for redress, and in 1695, 
the petition being strongly supported by Sir Wil- 
liam Ashurst and Constantine Phipps, an act was 
passed by which the attainder was reversed. 
Three years subseoucnt to this, the bodies of Leis- 



1602.] COLONEL FLETCHER. 123 

Icr and Milbournc were disinterred, and after 
lying in state -with great pomp for several days, 
were reburied in the old Dutch church. 

The judicial murder of these popular leaders 
led to a result widely different from that which 
had been anticipated by their enemies. The 
principles they had espoused and supported were 
only implanted deeper in the minds of the people. 
Out of this signal act of tyranny grew^ a hatred 
of oppression, and an abhorrence of the royalist, 
or aristocratic party, which gradually gained 
ground in the midst of fierce animosities, and 
finally ended in the triumphant assertion of 
popular rights. 

The war with Canada still continued, sustained 
principally by the efforts of the Mohawks under 
Schuyler. But the vigorous energy, foresight, and 
activity of Count Frontenac, w'cre more than a 
match for the feeble and ill-conducted attempts 
made against him by the English provinces. Af- 
ter an inefficient and distracted administration 
of four months, Sloughter died, and in the ab- 
sence of Dudley, the president of the council, the 
control of affairs was committed to Captain In- 
goldsby. 

In September, 1092, Colonel Jjenjaniin Fletch- 
er, a man of strong passions, feeble talents, ac- 
tive, and avaricious, arrived, as governor, bringing 
with him presents fur the Indians, military sup- 
plies, and an addition of two companies of sol- 



124 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1693. 

diers. Fortunately for his subsequent conduct 
of Indian affairs, Fletclier earlj made the ac- 
quaintance of Major Schuyler, who had succeeded 
to the influence which old Corlear once exercised 
over the Iroquois, and from whom the English 
governors were subsequently entitled ^^ Corlear" 
by the Indians. Major Schuyler, or ''Quidder," 
as the Mohawks called him — for they could not 
pronounce his Christian name of Peter — was a 
brave, active, intelligent, and humane man; and 
his unbounded authority over the wild tribes on 
the frontier, rendered him eminently serviceable 
to the governor, who judiciously admitted him of 
his council. 

During the period that Fletcher was reorgan- 
izing his government, and creating various issues 
with the assembly. Count Frontenac was busily 
preparing for an expedition against the Five Na- 
tions. On the 15th of January, 1693, he set out 
from Montreal, with a force of seven hundred 
French and Indians, and passing Schenectady on 
the 6th of February, entered the first fortified 
village of the Mohawks the same night, and cap- 
tured five men, and a few women and children. 
Most of the warriors of that nation being at this 
time on a visit to Schenectady, a second village 
was captured equally bloodlessly ; but at the third, 
about forty Indians were surprised during a war 
dance, and a battle ensued, in which the French 
were victorious, though not until after they had 



1693.] FRENCH INVASION. 125 

sustained a loss of forty men. Satisfied with his 
success in this sudden foray, Frontenac now set 
oft' on his return to Canada, bearing with him 
about three hundred captives. 

The tidings of this invasion was no sooner 
known to the Mohawks at Schenectady, than they 
called upon the inhabitants to assist them in pur- 
suing the retiring enemy. The people were timid, 
and hesitated, much to the anger of their savage 
allies ; but their cowardice was atoned for by the 
activity of Schuyler, who hastened to the relief 
of his friends, at the head of two hundred men. 
Being joined on the 15th of February by three 
hundred Indians, he followed in pursuit of the 
foe, sending back to Albany for reinforcements 
and provisions. On the ITth he came up with 
the rear guard of the French, and a series of tri- 
fling skirmishes ensued. Two days afterward, 
his force being increased by the arrival of eighty 
regulars, with the much needed supply of provi- 
sions, Schuyler resumed the pursuit; but the 
enemy had taken advantage of tlie delay, and 
succeeded in reaching the north branch of the 
Hudson, through a driving snow storm. Provisions 
again falling so short that the Indians were com- 
pelled to subsist upon the dead bodies of the ene- 
my, all further advance was rendered impossible, 
and Schuyler returned to Albany, after having 
retaken about fifty of the captives. 

The activity of Fletcher on this occasion gained 
11* 



126 HISTORY OF XEW YORK. [1693. 

him great credit with the Five Nations. He no 
sooner heard of the approach of the French, than 
embarking with three hundred volunteers, he 
landed at Albany, a distance of one hundred and 
sixty miles from New York, within five days. 
He was too late to be of any service, but his zeal 
gratified the Indians, who bestowed upon him the 
name of "Cayenguirago," or the Great Swift 
Arrow. 

Reinforcements of troops and munitions of war 
reaching Canada from France soon after this in- 
road, the Oneidas sued for peace, and even the 
faithful Mohawks wavered. To prevent the other 
nations of the Iroquois from submitting to the 
energetic Frontenac, and to confirm them in their 
old alliance with the English, Fletcher met the 
chiefs of the Five Nations at Albany, in July, 
1693, where he distributed the presents with 
which he had been intrusted, and renewed the 
ancient covenant. This attention was well-timed, 
and the Indians expressed their gratitude. "Bro- 
ther Cayenguirago," said they, "we roll and 
wallow in joy, because of the great favour your 
king and queen have done us, in sending us arms 
and ammunition, at a time when we are in the 
greatest need of them." 

But if Governor Fletcher succeeded in ac- 
quiring the afi"ections of the Indians, he failed in 
inspiring any attachment, either to his person or 
government, on the part of the provincial assem- 



1695.] DISSENSIONS. 127 

bly. With the latter he was coarse, passionate, 
and overbearing; and the liberal principles which 
were rapidly spreading throughout the colony, 
were met by him with the most pointed and 
vigorous rebukes. "There are none of you," 
said he, "but what are big with the privileges of 
Englishmen and Magna Charta." Having desired 
them to provide for a ministry in each precinct 
throughout the province, a scheme was at length 
agreed upon, which was transmitted to him for 
his approval. He returned it with an amend- 
ment, vesting in himself the power of inducting 
every incumbent. The house refusing to accept 
the additional clause, Fletcher summoned the 
members before him, and in a fit of passion pro- 
rogued the assembly. "You take upon you as if 
you were dictators," said he. 

The dissensions between the governor and suc- 
ceeding assemblies increased in violence, until at 
length, in 1G95, it broke out into an open rup- 
ture. 

While Fletcher was thus contending with the 
people in the assertion of their rights, Frontcnac 
was re])uilding the fort at Cadaracqui, which was 
called after his name. 

The continual alarms to wliicli the province of 
New York had been subjected by the unceasing 
activity of a bold and enterprising enemy, led to 
the project of calling upon the several colonies 
for assistance. The demand made upon each was 



128 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1696. 

proportioned according to wealth and population, 
but it was only partially responded to. 

Unsuccessful in his efforts to form a treaty of 
peace with the Five Nations, Frontenac had no 
sooner strengthened the fort at Cadaracqui, than 
he determined upon an invasion of the Iroquois 
territory with all the regulars and militia under 
his command. Accompanied by a large force of 
friendly Indians, he left Montreal in July, 1696. 
The vanguard of this imposing army was com- 
posed of two battalions of regulars, under De 
Callieres, and a scouting force of Indians. The 
main body consisted of a large party of volun- 
teers, and four battalions of militia, commanded 
by De Ramezai, the governor of Trois Rivieres. 
Two battalions of regulars and a small number of 
Indians brought up the rear. So formidable a 
military force had never before been seen upon 
Lake Ontario. Crossing to Oswego, the army re- 
embarked upon Oneida Lake, and separating into 
two divisions, coasted both shores, to deceive the 
Indians in regard to the point where the landing 
was to be effected. Entering the country of the 
Onondagas, the latter at first prepared to defend 
themselves ; but on being apprized of the strength 
of the French, they set fire to their village, and 
retired deeper into the forest. 

Learning that the savages were flying before 
him, Frontenac, borne in an elbow chair in the 
rear of the artillery, pressed forward and entered 



1()90.] PEACE. 129 

the deserted village. One aged chief alone re- 
mained within the rude fortification to receive 
them. He was at once delivered over to the 
French Indians to be put to death. Although 
upward of one hundred years old, he bore 
the tortures they inflicted upon him with the 
most unflinching firmness. Exasperated by his 
stoical indifierence, one of the savages at length 
stabbed him with a knife. "You had better," 
said he, "let me die by fire, that these French 
dogs may learn to die like men. You Indians, 
you dogs of dogs, think of me when you are in a 
like condition." 

The death of this one aged and heroic Onon- 
daga was the only result of an invasion which 
threatened the entire extermination of the Iro- 
quois. 

As soon as Frontenac commenced his return to 
Canada, the Onondagas harassed his rear, and 
succeeded in cutting oS" several of his batteaux. 
A desultory warfare followed, which was termi- 
nated in 1G99 by the peace of Ryswick. 



130 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1698. 



CHAPTER X. 

Arrival of Bellamont — Ordered to suppress piracy on the coast 
— Fletcher discountenanced — Exultation of the popular party 
— Captain Kidd commissioned to apprehend the pirates — 
Turns pirate himself — Appears in Boston — Is arrested and 
sent to England for trial — Commotion in England — Address 
of Bellamont to the assembly — His popularity — Engages in 
a controversy with Frontenac — French treaty with the In- 
dians — Law passed by the assembly against Roman Catholic 
priests — Death of Bellamont — Nanfan lieutenant-governor — 
Appointment of Cornbury — His character — Attaches himself 
to the Royalists — Is granted a donation — Second intercolonial 
war — Money appropriated for fortifying the Narrows — Em- 
bezzled by Cornbury — Difficulties with the assembly — Dis- 
trust of Cornbury — His profligate career — Petitions for his 
recall — Arrival of Lord Lovelace — Cornbury arrested for debt 
— His return to England. 

On the IStli of June, 1697, Richard, Earl of 
Bellamont, received a commission as Governor 
of New York ; but meeting on his voyage with 
contrary winds, did not arrive in the province 
until the 2d of April, 1698. Having been one 
of the committee to which was intrusted an ex- 
amination into the conduct of the party by winch 
Leisler and Milbourne had been sacrificed, he was 
already tolerably well informed in relation to the 
affairs of the province. As his commission em- 
braced also the provinces of Massachusetts Bay 
and New Hampshire, in order that he might be 
enabled the more effectually to suppress the piracy 



1G08.] BELLAMONT GOVERNOR. 131 

which had for a long time been notoriously en- 
couraged on the coasts of North America, he 
brought over with him his kinsman, John Nanfan, 
as lieutenant-governor of New York. 

The administration of Fletcher had given as 
little satisfaction in England as it had in the pro- 
vince over which he had exercised the authority 
of governor. The impunity with which the buc- 
caneers had visited the harbour of New York was 
imputed to his encouragement and connivance. 
Bclhimont, an able and upright man, soon exhi- 
bited his abhorrence of such proceedings, by re- 
garding Fletcher and his adherents with disfjxvour. 
Elated at finding themselves once more under an 
executive who was disposed to consult the good 
of the province, rather than the elevation of an 
aristocratic faction, the popular party hailed his 
administration with delight; and the friends of 
the murdered Leisler, favoured by Bcllamont, 
soon found themselves in a majority, both in the 
council and in the assembly. 

In view of his orders to suppress piracy in 
America, Bellamont, previous to his leaving 
England, had made the acquaintance of Robert 
Livingston, who recommended that the appre- 
hension of tlie pirates .sliould be intrusted to 
Captain Kidd, a shipmaster of New York, who 
was well acquainted with their haunts, and wliom 
he vouched for as a man of courage and integri- 
ty. The proposal was submitted to the king; but 



132 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1698. 

as all the vessels in the royal navy were required 
to operate against the French, for the war had not 
then closed, the project could not be entertained 
by the Admiralty. Livingston then proposed the 
formation of a company, to be indemnified out of 
the recaptures, and offered to defray the fifth 
part of the cost and charges of a vessel, and to 
enter into bonds for the faithful performance of 
his commission by Kidd. To evince his approval 
of the design, the king took a tenth share him- 
self, and Somers, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke 
of Shrewsbury, the Earls of Romney, Oxford, 
and others joined in the adventure, and raised 
the sum of six thousand pounds to carry it into 
effect. In April, 1696, Kidd, duly commissioned, 
sailed for Plymouth ; but turning pirate himself, 
carried the vessel into the eastern seas, where he 
committed great depredations. After securing 
the wealth thus villanously acquired, he burned 
his ship, and returning to America,, took up his 
residence at Boston. At this place, in 1698, 
he was arrested by Bellamont, who having ad- 
vised the English government of the capture, 
a man-of-war was sent over to convey the prisoner 
to England. Being driven back to port in a 
storm, a rumour was spread that the ministry 
then in power were in collusion with the bucca- 
neers, and were afraid to have Kidd brought back 
to England, lest he should implicate the whig 
lords as having confederated with him for pirati- 



1608.] ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLY. 133 

cal purposes. These suspicions becoming gene- 
ral, a motion was made in the House of Commons, 
that all who had been concerned in the original 
adventure with Kidd, should be deprived of their 
offices under the government. This motion being 
lost by a large majority, several of the adven- 
turers were next impeached in the House of Lords. 
They were soon after put upon their trial, and 
from the facts then elicited, were honourably ac- 
quitted by their peers. 

The first assembly convened by Bellamont, met 
on the 18th of May. In his opening address, the 
new governor pointed out the disorderly condition 
into which the province had fallen through the 
culpable negligence, favouritism, and covetous 
spirit of his predecessor. Reminding the mem- 
bers that the revenue required to be provided for, 
lie adde<l: "It would be hard if I, that come 
among you with an honest mind, and a resolution 
to be just to your interest, should meet with 
greater difficulties in the discharge of his majes- 
ty's service than those who have gone before me. 
I will take care that there shall be no misapplica- 
tion of the public money. I will pocket none of 
it myself, nor shall there be any embezzlement 
by others; but exact accounts shall be given you, 
when, and as often as you require." 

The custom adopted by Fletcher of influencing 
elections by his personal presence, was firmly 
discountenanced by Bellamont, ^v]lo recommended 

12 



134 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1699. 

the assembly to provide by law for tbe reforma- 
tion of such abuses. Confident that they had at 
length obtained a governor sincerely desirous of 
promoting the general welfare of the province, 
the members of the assembly passed a warm ad- 
dress of thanks for his speech; but were soon 
after engaged in controversies among themselves, 
which led to the secession of six of the delegates, 
and obliged Bellamont to dissolve the house on 
the 14th of June. 

During the year 1699, the governor was en- 
gaged in a spirited correspondence with Count 
Frontenac, relative to the exchange of prisoners 
consequent upon the peace of Ryswick. Bella- 
mont included in his demand the Indians detained 
in captivity in Canada, claiming their liberty as 
British subjects. Frontenac insisted upon con- 
sidering the Five Nations as independent, and 
therefore not subject to the provisions of the late 
treaty. Bellamont persevered in demanding their 
release, and threatened to recommence the war 
if his claim was not admitted. ''If it is neces- 
sary," he wrote, "I will arm every man in the 
provinces under my government to oppose you, 
and redress the injury that you may perpetrate 
against our Indians." 

While the dispute was pending Frontenac died ; 
and De Callieres, his successor, terminated the 
difficulty by treating with the Iroquois in person^ 
without admitting the right of tlie British gover- 



1700.] FEELING AGAINST PRIESTS. 135 

nor to intermediate. "When the French commis- 
sioners reached Onondaga to perfect the treaty, 
they Avere met outside of the palisades by De- 
canesora, an Iroquois chief, who presented them 
with three belts of wampum. "By the first," 
said he, "we wipe away your tears for the 
French who have been slain in the war ; by the 
second, we open your mouths that you may speak 
freely; and by the third, we clear the mat on 
which you are to sit, from the blood which has 
been spilled on both sides." The commissioners 
in attendance from Albany were then invited to 
witness the conference that ensued ; and when 
Bruyes, a Jesuit, expressed a desire to remain in 
'the nation, the chiefs, true to their old allegiance, 
replied coldly: "We have already accepted Cor- 
lear's belt, by which he offers pastors to instruct 
us." 

The virulent hatred inspired by the influence 
which the French missionaries exerted over the 
minds of the Indians, strongly exhibited itself in 
New York, during the summer of 1700, wlien the 
assembly passed an act for the hanging of every 
Roman Catholic priest that came voluntarily into 
the province. 

Respected by the people, and in harmony with 
his council and the assembly, the latter exhibited 
their confidence in the integrity of the governor 
by voting a revenue for six years, and phicing it 
in his hands for disbursement. Notwithstanding 



136 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1702. 

this honourable proof of popular ^confidence, the 
activity of Bellamont in preventing any violation 
of the navigation acts, made him many enemies 
among the merchants of the province, who, re- 
garding those laws as oppressive and unjust, had 
heretofore been accustomed to violate them with 
impunity. The display of ill-feeling occasioned 
by these differences ceased only with the death 
of the governor, which took place suddenly on the 
5th of March, 1701. 

He was succeeded by Lieutenant-governor 
Nanfan, during whose brief administration a 
court of chancery was organized, and a Protes- 
tant minister, paid by the province, directed to 
devote his services to the instruction of the In- 
dians. Unhappily, party animosities also revived 
at this time, which led to acts of violence and 
disorder. Livingston and Bayard, the leaders of 
the anti-Leislerian faction, were treated with 
great harshness by the popular party then in 
power, and the result would in all probability 
have ended seriously to the latter, but for the 
arrival, in 1702, of the needy and unprincipled 
Cornbury, as governor of the two provinces of 
New York and New Jersey. 

Claiming kindred with royalty, weak-minded, 
arrogant, and vicious, Cornbury immediately 
united himself to the aristocratic faction, which, 
strengthened by his powerful support, soon ac- 
quired a majority in the assembly. To his open- 



1703.] EMBEZZLEMENT BY CORNBURY. 137 

ing address the members heartily responded by 
providing an annual revenue for seven years, by 
voting him a donation of two thousand pounds to 
defray the expenses of his voyage, and by in- 
creasing his annual salary to twelve hundred 
pounds. 

War having been proclaimed by England 
against France and Spain, on the 4th of May, 
1702, the assembly, which met^n April, 1703, 
granted an appropriation of fifteen hundred 
pounds for the erection of two batteries at the 
Narrows. But though it was distinctly specified 
that the money should be appropriated "for no 
other use whatever," his lordship neglected to 
build the fortifications. Dishonest and extrava- 
gant, he drew the amount from the treasury by 
his warrants, and applied it to his private pur- 
poses. 

To guard against any misapplication of the 
public funds in future, the assembly of 1704 re- 
fused to make any further appropriations until 
the previous grant was accounted for. Angry 
discussions followed. The members asserted their 
rights, and Cornbury responded haughtily, by 
saying: "I know of no rights that you have as 
an assembly but such as the queen is pleased to 
allow you." 

A treaty of neutrality existing between the 
French in Canada and the Five Nations, there 
was in reality no pressing necessity for voting the 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1708. 

sums of money wliich Cornbury was repeatedly 
soliciting; but when, in 1705, a French privateer 
entered the harbour of New York, the alarm into 
which the province was thrown, induced the 
assembly to pass bills for raising an amount suf- 
ficient to defray the expenses of fortifications, 
and a corps of scouts and rangers, to be stationed 
on the frontiers. 

Warned by tWfe previous embezzlements, not to 
trust the public funds in the hands of the gover- 
nor, they agreed to sanction the grant only upon 
the condition that it should be disbursed by a 
treasurer appointed by themselves. To this Corn- 
bury reluctantly assented, and the arrangement 
was subsequently permitted by the English go- 
vernment, but only so far as it applied to specific 
appropriations. The firm and decided stand 
taken by the assembly on this occasion, led to its 
sudden prorogation. 

In 1706 the house was again called together; 
but the members being found equally intractable, 
a dissolution speedily took place. No further 
.session Taras convened until 1708, and in the mean 
time, the profligate career of Cornbury had ren- 
dered him odious to all parties. He had been 
rebuked for his tyrannical interference in matters 
of religion, for his peculations in office, and for 
his exaction of illegal fees, and no longer was 
any confidence placed either in his honour or his 
honesty. For some time he endeavoured to main- 



1700.] CORNBURY RECALLED. 139 

tain his authority by a greater display of im- 
periousness and arrogance; but falling deeply 
into debt, he suffered himself to be humbled by 
the assembly whose rights he had so haughtily 
disputed, and became contemptible in the eyes 
of the people, by parading the fort dressed in the 
clothes of a woman, and by similar acts of reck- 
lessness and folly. 

Disgusted alike with his antics and his knavery, 
the public indignation at length vented itself in 
clamorous petitions for his recall. Their efforts 
were successful; and in 1709, Lord Lovelace 
arrived at New York commissioned to supersede 
Cornbury in the government of the province. 
Losing with his office his immunity from arrest, 
Cornbury had no sooner recognised the commis- 
sion of his successor, than his creditors threw 
him into the custody of the sheriff of New York, 
where he remained until he succeeded, by the 
death of his father, to the earldom of Clarendon. 
lie then returned to England, bearing with him 
the unenviable distinction of having been one of 
the worst provincial governors that had ever re- 
ceived an appointment from the English crown. 



140 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1709. 



CHAPTER XL 

Lovelace demands of the assembly a permanent revenue — An 
annual grant substituted — Death of Lovelace — Administra- 
tion of Ingoldsby — Abortive attempt to invade Canada — Dis- 
content of New York — Address to Queen Anne — Colonel 
Schuyler repairs to England, accompanied by five Mohawk 
chiefs — Reception of the latter in London — Their interview 
with the Queen — Governor Hunter arrives at New York — 
The assembly refractory — Expedition against Canada — Its 
shameful failure — Activity of De Vandreuil — The provincial 
troops disbanded — Indignation of England and the colonies — 
Charges brought against St. John and Harcourt — Contro- 
versy between Hunter and the assembly in relation to a per- 
manent revenue — The point carried by the governor— Gloomy 
condition of the province — Negro insurrection' — Peace of 
Utrecht — Permanent revenue granted — Hunter's popularity 
— His return to England. 

The first assembly convened by Lord Lovelace 
met in April, 1709. In his opening address to 
the members, he demanded, on behalf of the 
crown, the grant of a permanent revenue, the 
discharge of the debts of the provincial govern- 
ment, and, for his own satisfaction, a full exami- 
nation of the public accounts, in order that he 
might be exonerated from debts which were not 
of his contracting. 

The assembly responded by congratulating 
Lovelace on his arrival among them, and by 
assuring him of their desire to consult the good 



1709.] CANADA INVADED. 141 

of the country and his satisfciction ; but as the 
loose and unprincipled conduct of Cornbury had 
taught them the policy of retaining in their own 
hands an entire control over the appropriations, 
they declined voting any more moneys than were 
necessary for the annual support of the govern- 
ment. 

As this placed the governor and the other ser- 
vants of the crown enth'cly at the mercy of the 
assembly, there is no doubt that Lovelace would 
have resisted an innovation by which his preroga- 
tive was restricted within such narrow limits ; but 
having contracted a disorder in crossing the ferry 
at Xew York, on his first arrival in the province, 
he died the 5th of May, 1709, while the assembly 
was in session, and was succeeded by Richard 
Ingoldsbyj the lieutenant-governor. 

The brief administration of Ingoldsb}^ was only 
remarkable for another abortive a/ttempt to in- 
vade Canada, for w^hich large preparations had 
been made by New York and the New England 
j»rovinces. 

The design being to co-operate with a strong 
British fleet, in a simultaneous attack upon Que- 
bec and Montreal, troops from Massachusetts, 
llliodc Island, and Ncw^ Hampshire, assembled at 
Boston, and awaited the arrival of the promised 
squadron, while the quotas of New York, New 
Jersey, and Connecticut, numbering some fifteen 
hundred men, marched to Wood Creek, near the 



142 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1709. 

head of Lake Champlain, where they erected for- 
tifications, and stored their provisions. 

As usual, unforeseen obstacles occurred. Just 
as the expedition was about to set sail from Eng- 
land, an alarming defeat, suffered by the Portu- 
guese, rendered it necessary for the British 
ministry to despatch the fleet and troops intended 
for America, to the support of their ancient ally. 
Deeply mortified at having been thus foiled in the 
prosecution of a favourite project, the colonial 
levies were recalled and disbanded. 

New York was particularly disconcerted at this 
unexpected result. The province had been lavish 
of its means to make the invasion as effective as 
possible. The expenses it had incurred amounted 
to twenty thousand pounds. Besides maintaining 
its quota of volunteer and independent companies, 
it had enlisted six hundred Iroquois warriors, and 
supported at Alban^^, during the period of their 
absence, one thousand of their wives and children. 

Disappointed at the failure of an enterprise 
upon the success of which the security, of the 
frontiers so much depended, the assembly declined 
to assist in an attack upon Acadia, which was 
agreed upon soon after, during a congress of 
colonial governors held at Newport, in Rhode 
Island. Believing that in the spread of the 
French from the region of Canada westward, the 
greatest danger was to be apprehended by the 
British colonies, the assembly, in the month of 



1710.] SCHUYLER VISITS ENGLAND. 143 

October, 1709, drew up an address to the queen, 
setting forth then- views upon the subject? 

<'It is well known," thej wrote, ^'that tlic 
French can go bj water from Quebec to ^lon- 
treal. From thence they can do the like, through 
rivers and lakes, at the back of all your majesty's 
plantations on this continent as far as Carolina. 
And in this large tract of country live several 
nations of Indians who are vastly numerous. 
Among those they constantly send emissaries and 
priests, wdth toys and trifles, to insinuate them- 
selves into their favour. Afterward they send 
traders, then soldiers, and at last build forts 
among them; and the garrisons are encouraged 
to intermarry, cohabit, and incorporate among 
them ; and it may easily be concluded, that upon 
a peace, many of the disbanded soldiers will be 
sent thither for that purpose." 

About this time, Colonel Schuyler having ex- 
pressed his determination to proceed to England, 
at his own expense, for the purpose of urging 
personally upon the government the necessity of 
the conquest of Canada, the assembly entered 
warmly into his views by passing an unanimous 
resolution testifying to his long and faitliful pub- 
lic services, and by intrusting to his charge their 
address to the crown. 

Accompanied by five Mohawk chiefs, Schuyler 
reached England early in the spring of 1710. 
The presence of the stately savages created a 



144 HISTORY OF NEW YOEK. [1710. 

great sensation througliout tlie kingdom. Multi- 
tudes flocked to see them. Followed everywhere 
by a dense throng of people, they paraded the 
streets of London, dressed in black clothes, over 
which were flung gay scarlet mantles edged with 
gold. On the 19th of April, they were intro- 
duced by the Lord Chamberlain to Queen Anne, 
when one of them, after referring to the failure 
of the expedition against Canada, continued as 
follows : — 

"We were mightily rejoiced when we heard 
our great queen had resolved to send an army to 
reduce Canada, and immediately, in token of 
friendship, we hung up the kettle, and took up 
the hatchet, and with one consent assisted Colo- 
nel Nicholson in making preparations on this side 
the lake ; but at length we were told our great 
queen, by some important affairs, w^as prevented 
in her design at present, which made us sorrow- 
ful, lest the French, who had hitherto dreaded us, 
should now think us unable to make war against 
them. The reduction of Canada is of great weight 
to our free hunting; so that if our great queen 
should not be mindful of us, we must, with oui' 
families, forsake our country and seek other 
habitations, or stand neuter, either of which will 
be against our inclinations." 

When he had closed, the orator presented the 
queen with belts of wampum, in proof of the 



1710.] HUNTER APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 145 

sincerity of tlie Five Nations. He received a 
gracious reph% and the audience was ended. 

On the 14th of June, Brigadier Robert Hun- 
ter arrived at New York, bearing the commission 
of governor. A native of Scotland, Hunter first 
entered upon the business of life as apprentice to 
an apothecary ; but running away from his mas- 
ter, he enlisted in the army as a common soldier. 
His fine talents, handsome person, and graceful 
address, won him the friendship of Swift and 
Addison, and the hand of Lady Hay. Married 
to a peeress, military promotion soon followed. 
His first colonial appointment was in 1707, as 
lieutenant-governor of Virginia ; but being cap- 
tured by the French while on his voyage to that 
province, he was commissioned, on his return to 
England, to succeed Lovelace in the government 
of New York and New Jersey. 

Hunter brought over with him, at the expense 
of the crown, three thousand Germans, who had 
taken refuge in England the year previous, from 
the wars which had laid desolate their homesteads 
on the Ithine. Many of these immigrants settled 
in the city of New York. Of the remainder, 
some ascended the Hudson River, wliere they 
commenced cultivating a tract of several tliousand 
acres on the manor of Livin_L^stoll ; wliik' others, 
migrating into Pennsylvania, wrote from thence 
such favourable accounts of tlie country to their 
friends abroad, that the latter came (locking over 
13 



146 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1710. 

in numbers so great as to form extensive agricul- 
tural communities in the western parts of that 
province. 

Hunter met his first assembly in September, 
1710 ; but following out instructions similar to 
those which had been given to his predecessor, he 
soon found himself threatened with a controversy 
in relation to a permanent revenue, which he only 
avoided by a prorogation of the house until the 
following spring. 

While this discussion was at its height, the 
New England states were vigorously prosecuting 
the conquest of Acadia. Thirty transports, bear- 
ing four provincial regiments, supported by six 
English vessels, having on board five hundred 
marines, sailed from Boston in September, and 
toward the close of the month cast anchor in the 
harbour of Port Royal. The command of this 
expedition had been given to Colonel Nicholson, 
formerly lieutenant-governor of New York under 
Sloughter. It proved signally successful. The 
French garrison, feeble in numbers, and already 
mutinous from a scarcity of food, being more dis- 
posed to desert to the besiegers than to offer an 
inefi'ectual resistance, Subercase, their comman- 
der, capitulated on the 12th of October, and on 
the 16th, evacuated, with his ragged and half- 
famished troops, one of the strongest fortresses 
in all North America. The inhabitants of the 
surrounding districts immediately submitted to 



1711.] CANADA AGAIN INVADED. 147 

the conquerors, "who, in retaliation for the suffer- 
ings which their own countrymen had experienced 
at the hands of the French, treated them with 
but little mercy. Yetch, the second in command 
to Nicholson, being left with four hundred men to 
occupy the fortress, the remainder of the forces 
returned in triumph to Boston. 

The bloodless acquisition of xVcadia, still further 
stimulating the desire of the English colonies to 
obtain possession of Canada also, Nicholson, at 
the instance of the provincial governors, repaired 
to England, and urged upon the ministry an im- 
mediate prosecution of the long contemplated 
enterprise. 

His appeal being strongly supported by the 
secretary of state, St. John, subsequently known 
as Lord Bolingbroke, seven regiments of regulars, 
and a battalion of marines were ordered to be 
embarked on board a fleet of fifteen ships-of-war 
and forty transports, the command of the land 
forces being given to Brigadier-general Hill, while 
that of the squadron was intrusted to Admiral 
Sir Ilovenden Walker. The fleet reached Boston 
on the 25th of June, 1711, where a month was 
wasted in embarking the colonial forces, and in 
providing supplies. 

In the mean time, fifteen hundred provincials 
and eight hundred Indians, commanded by Nichol- 
son, assembled at Albany, preparatory to an 
attack on Montreal. But with the usual fatality 



148 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1711. 

which had attended every attempt to conquer 
Canada, the fleet which was destined to operate 
against Quebec, did not commence ascending the 
St. Lawrence until the middle of August. The 
wind blowing fresh, Walker put into the Bay of 
Gaspe, until the 20th, when he again set sail. 
On the evening of the 22d, a thick fog setting in, 
the pilots advised that the vessels should lie-to, 
with their heads pointing to the southward. The 
admiral, inefficient and self-willed, countermanded 
the order and directed that the fleet should head 
north. The consequence was that, during the 
mist and darkness, eight of the transports were 
wrecked among the Egg Islands of the St. Law- 
rence, with a loss of eight hundred and eighty- 
four men. Alarmed at a disaster brought about 
in a great measure by his own incompetence, 
Walker now put back into Spanish River Bay, 
where he called a council of war. Acting upon 
their advice, which was evidently in accordance 
with his own wishes, he concluded to abandon the 
expedition and return home, congratulating him- 
self that by the loss of a part of his troops, he 
had been saved from hazarding the lives of the 
remainder. 

Fully aware of the danger by which he was 
menaced, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, with that 
remarkable energy which seems to have been a 
characteristic of the French governors in Canada, 
made every preparation in his power to meet it. 



1711.] FAILURE OF THE EXPEDITION. 149 

He called around him his faithful allies, and 
having strengthened Quebec and the posts below 
on both sides of the river, sent out trusty spies to 
watch for the first appearance of the British 
squadron. When he became aware from the in- 
telligence which reached him that Quebec was no 
longer threatened, De Vaudreuil hastened at the 
head of three thousand men to Chamblj, in order 
to protect Montreal against the advance of the 
provincial army under Nicholson. His apprehen- 
sions of an attack in the latter quarter were, 
however, speedily put to rest. Nicholson no 
sooner heard that Walker had set sail for Eng- 
land, and that the colonial transports had been 
sent home, than he disbanded his forces and de- 
parted from Albany, leaving the inhabitants of 
that city in great alarm lest De Vaudreuil should 
advance from his camp at Chambly and carry on 
a frontier war of retaliation. 

To New York the shameful failure of this ex- 
pedition was peculiarly unfortunate. An expense 
of ten thousand pounds had been incurred to no 
purpose ; the frontiers still lay open to the in- 
cursions of the enemy ; while the Five Nations, 
beginning to regard with contempt a people whose 
projects always ended unsuccessfully, evinced a 
disposition to form a treaty of alliance with the 
French, whose good fortune, spirit, and energy 
had won their admiration. 

In England, the inglorious return of Walker 
13» 



150 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1711. 

roused the public indignation. The regular offi- 
cers defended themselves, by attributing the 
failure of the expedition to the detention at Bos- 
ton while waiting for supplies ; and charged the 
delay upon the New England people, whom they 
denounced as being selfish, ill-natured, sour, 
hypocritical, and canting. The latter retorted by 
asserting the enterprise to have been a tory device 
intended to fail, and gotten up for the sole pur- 
pose of fleecing and disgracing the eastern pro- 
vinces. Parliament next took up the quarrel, 
and Harley, separated from his former colleagues, 
accused St. John and the Chancellor Harcourt 
of having contrived the project, for the purpose 
of putting twenty thousand pounds into their own 
pockets. "No government," said Harcourt, ''is 
worth supporting that will not admit of such ad- 
vantageous jobs." 

While this controversy was raging. Governor 
Hunter was contending with a refractory assem- 
bly. The latter, abiding by their previous de- 
termination to make no appropriations for a 
longer term than one year, refused to pass the 
bills as altered by the council. Warm discussions 
ensued. The council contended that, as a co- 
ordinate branch of the legislature, deriving, in 
like manner with the assembly, their authority 
from "the mere grace of the crown," they had a 
right to make such amendments as they thought 
proper. The delegates replied boldly: "The 



1712.] DIFFERENCES WITH THE ASSEMBLY. 151 

inherent right the assembly have to dispose of 
the money of the freemen of this colony, does not 
proceed from any commission, letters patent, or 
other grant from the crown ; but from the free 
choice and election of the people, who ought 
not to be divested of their property, nor justly 
can without their consent. Any former conde- 
scensions of other assemblies, will not prescribe 
to the council a privilege to make any of those 
amendments; and, therefore, they have it not. 
The assembly are sufficiently convinced of the 
necessity they are in, not to admit of any en- 
croachments so much to their prejudice." 

Another cause of complaint at this period was 
the erection of a court of chancery, and the as- 
sumption of the chancellorship by Hunter him- 
self. The assembly disputed his authority to 
establish such a court without their consent, and 
contended that the fees exacted under such cir- 
cumstances were contrary to law. They appealed 
to the Lords of Trade, but met with a pointed 
rebuke, the act of Hunter and his council being 
fully sustained. 

At the session of 1712, Hunter again vainly 
endeavoured to prevail upon the assembly to 
grant a permanent revenue. They would allow 
no more than an annual appropriation, specifically 
applied. Nothing could be more gloomy than 
the aspect of affairs at this period. The assem- 
bly, governor, and council were at issue; the 



152 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1713. 

Iroquois, tempted by French emissaries, were 
wavering in their allegiance ; an invasion was an- 
ticipated by sea ; and, to add to the general alarm, 
a negro insurrection broke out in the city of New 
York, by which several persons lost their lives. 
It was speedily suppressed, however, and nine- 
teen of the real or supposed conspirators were 
executed. During this year, the Tuscarora In- 
dians, having been defeated in an attempt to 
exterminate the English in North Carolina, took 
refuge among the Iroquois, by whom they were 
received into the confederacy, which became 
known thenceforth as the Six Nations. 

At length, in 1713, the second intercolonial, 
or Queen Anne's war, was terminated by the 
peace of Utrecht. France, humbled by the suc- 
cessive victories of Marlborough, ceded to Great 
Britain the territory of Hudson's Bay, the whole 
of Newfoundland and Acadia, and the island of 
St. Kitts in the West Indies. The subjection 
of the Five Nations to the English crown was 
also acknowledged; but as neither the bounda- 
ries of the Iroquois territory, nor those of Louisi- 
ana and Acadia were defined by the treaty, they 
became, in after years, a fruitful source of dis- 
pute, which engendered repeated acts of hostility, 
and kept the frontiers of the English colonies in 
almost continual warfare, until the conquest of 
Canada was finally consummated by General 
Wolfe. - . ' 



1719.] GENERAL PROSPERITY. lo3 

But though the close of the war relieved New 
York from the pressure of an active enemy, the 
province still continued agitated bj the differ- 
ences existing between the governor and the 
assembly. Finding, after several successive ses- 
sions, that neither threats nor blandishments, nor 
the decision of the Lords of Trade, could move 
the delegates to grant a revenue in the manner 
demanded by the crown. Hunter resorted to arti- 
fice to obtain his ends. Personally a favourite 
with all parties, and ably supported by Colonel 
Morris, his confidential adviser, a gentleman of 
great influence in the province, he at length suc- 
ceeded, by intrigue and concession, in accom- 
plishing the orders of his superiors. 

At the session of 1715, ''a well-disposed ma- 
jority" granted a revenue for five years; and 
two years afterward, authorized a new issue of 
paper money to the amount of forty-eight thou- 
sand pounds, for the alleged purpose of liqui- 
dating long outstanding public debts, which had 
not been provided for previously. 

From this period until the return of Hunter to 
England in 1719, every thing worked harmonious- 
ly. Victorious on the only important point at 
issue, the governor, always disposed to conciliate 
matters, could well afford to be generous. lie 
permitted the naturalization of the Dutch inhabi- 
tants, a privilege which liad previously been de- 
nied; consented that British imported goods 



154 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1719. 

should be taxed for the benefit of the colony, and 
to the imposition of tonnage duties on foreign 
vessels. The failure of his health demanding a 
change of climate, Hunter surrendered the go- 
vernment of the province into the hands of Colo- 
nel Schuyler, and embarking for England on the 
31st of July, 1719, carried with him, from the 
respective assemblies of New York and New Jer- 
sey, testimonials expressive of their high appre- 
ciation of his public services, and of his private 
virtues. 



1720.] ARRIVAL OF BURNET. 155 



CHAPTER XII. 

Arrival of Governor Burnet — His character — Old assembly con- 
tinued — Sale of Indian goods to the French prohibited — Mer- 
cantile opposition — Petition to the king — Reply of Golden and 
Alexander — Activity of the French — Indian policy of Burnet 
■ — Fort Osw^ego built — Administrative difficulties — Alienation 
of Schuyler, Philips, and Delancey — New assembly demanded 
by the people — Removal of Burnet to the government of Mas- 
sachusetts — Montgomery appointed governor — Harmonizes 
with the assembly — Meets the Indians in convention at Alba- 
ny — Fort Oswego threatened — Burnet's Indian policy repu- 
diated — Boundary fixed between New York and Connecticut 
— Seizure of Crown Point by the French — Cosby succeeds 
Montgomery — Ingratiates himself with the assembly — A free 
school established — Violent and arbitrary conduct of Cosby — 
Political quarrels — Imprisonment of Zenger, printer of the 
Weekly Journal — His trial — Defended by Hamilton, of Phila- 
delphia — Liberty of the press vindicated — Illegal career of 
Cosby — His sudden death — Bitter party feuds — Clarke ap- 
pointed lieutenant-governor. 

Schuyler administered the government of the 
province with great prudence and honesty for 
thirteen months. On the 17th of September, 
1720, he was superseded by William Burnet, a 
son of the celebrated bishop. Though a gentle- 
man of fine literary acquirements, and an indus- 
trious student, he was nevertheless of a lively and 
social disposition. By no means averse to mend- 
ing his shattered fortunes, which had been greatly 
reduced by the bursting of the South Sea bubble, 
he exchanged with Hunter the comptroUcrship 



156 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1720. 

of the customs at London, for the government of 
the colonies of New York and New Jersey. De- 
sirous of conciliating the affections of the people, 
Governor Burnet rendered himself accessible to 
all; w^hile, in his frequent visits to the principal 
families, whose friendship he assiduously courted, 
he delicately avoided every appearance of parade 
or ostentation. Such conduct was well calcu- 
lated to win the strong personal esteem with 
which he soon came to be regarded, and tended 
in a great degree to soften the political asperi- 
ties by which his administration was subsequently 
distinguished. As Hunter had taken the pre- 
caution to prevent a dissolution of the "well-dis- 
posed" assembly during his absence, Governor 
Burnet, contrary to custom, continued it in ex- 
istence after his arrival, and obtained thereby, 
through the influence of Colonel Morris, a re- 
newal of the grant of a revenue for five years. 

But if this retention of the old assembly was 
of service to Burnet in one respect, it unfortu- 
nately lost him the support of Schuyler and 
Philips, both of whom, as members of the coun- 
cil, had strenuously advocated the propriety of a 
new election. 

In this measure, however, Burnet only con- 
formed to his instructions ; but he acted from his 
own just and enlarged views, when he procured 
from the same assembly the passage of a law pro- 
hibiting the sale of Indian goods to the French. 



1722.] ACTIVITY OF THE FrtENCII. 157 

As the principal commodities required in the In- 
dian trade were of British manufacture, the re- 
taining of those commodities in their own hands, 
was not only of vast benefit to the province in a 
pecuniary point of view, but it was also well cal- 
culated to eJ0fect a political change in the relations 
previously existing between the Canadians and the 
distant Indian tribes, who, subsequently, could 
only obtain their customary supplies at the hands 
of English traders. 

The act, however, being productive of great 
opposition from interested parties, and eliciting a 
memorial to the crown praying for its repeal, 
Burnet was soon after called upon to answer the 
objections of the petitioners. A long and able 
report was accordingly drawn up by Golden and 
Alexander, two members of the council, which 
triumphantly justified the course pursued by the 
governor, but entailed upon its authors the last- 
ing enmity of those merchants who had formerly 
carried on a lucrative traflic with the French. 

Indefatigable as ever, the latter were making 
every effort to extend the dominion of France, 
from Canada westwardly, by ingratiating them- 
selves with the Indian tribes of those regions, 
through the influence of their traders and mis- 
sionaries. Penetrating their projects, and well 
acquainted with the geography of the country, 
Burnet sought to intercept, the intercourse be- 
tween the Canadians and the Indian tribes settled 
u 



158 HISTOEY OF NEW YORK. [1722. 

on the great lakes and the numerous tributaries 
of the Mississippi, by building, during the year 
1722, a trading-house at Oswego, which he sub- 
sequently strengthened by a fort erected at his 
own expense; thus extending the limits of the 
province of New York to the south shore of Lake 
Ontario. The situation was judiciously chosen, 
and the Miamis, the Hurons, and unknown tribes 
from the distant west, soon became frequent and 
profitable visitors. 

But while the wisdom of Burnet's Indian policy 
was regarded with approval by all those who 
were most nearly interested in the prosperity of 
the province, his domestic administration was a 
turbulent one. The old dispute respecting the 
chancellorship was revived. This was touching 
the governor nearly, for he prided himself greatly 
upon the exercise of the office of chancellor, as it 
afforded favourable opportunities for the display 
of his erudition. His integrity was unquestion- 
able ; but whether he was altogether suitable for 
a judge may be doubted, as his rapid decisions 
gave him but little time to reflect upon the merits 
of the cause. "I act first, and think afterward," 
said he ; a dangerous admission, which, doubtless, 
had its weight in the scale of opposition. But 
he had other sources of annoyance. Unaccus- 
tomed to dissemble his thoughts, his free speech 
had alienated Schuyler, Philips, and Delancey, 
all three persons of influence in the province; 



1728.] MONTGOMERY APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 159 

■while the continuance of an assembly, which had 
already existed for eleven years, was regarded 
by many as unconstitutional. The assembly 
themselves, changed by the decease of old, and 
the electionof new members, were also becoming 
insubordinate. In 1726 they refused to grant a 
revenue for a longer period than three years. 
The people were clamorous for a new election, 
and Burnet reluctantly yielded to the general 
wish. 

The new assembly, which met in 1727, con- 
sisted of members wholly disaffected to the go- 
vernor. His decrees in chancery, his conduct in 
relation to a dispute in the French church, and 
the prohibition of the Canada trade, being made 
subjects of severe animadversion, he took the 
earliest opportunity of summoning the delegates 
into his presence and dissolving them. 

The commission of Governor Burnet expiring 
by the decease of George I., his opponents ex- 
erted their influence to procure his removal, on 
the plea that his longer continuance in office 
would be dangerous to the public tranquillity. 
Their efforts proving successful, Burnet was trans- 
ferred to the government of ^lassachusetts Bay, 
and was succeeded on the 15th of April, 1728, 
by John Montgomery. 

Educated to the profession of arms. Governor 
Montgomery had subseciuently occupied the more 
peaceful post of gentleman of the bedchamber to 



160 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1729. 

George II., prior to that monarch's accession to 
the throne. His abilities were very moderate, 
and preferring a life of ease to the turmoil of 
politics, he won the favour of the assembly by 
conceding their right to regulate salaries, and by 
declining to sit as chancellor until specially 
directed to do so by orders from England. Even 
then he obeyed with reluctance, and only as a 
matter of form, as he confessed himself unquali- 
fied for the station. 

Having procured from the assembly the grant 
of a revenue for five years, he proceeded to Al- 
bany, where he held a council with delegates from 
the Six Nations, and bestowed upon them the 
presents with which he was charged. At this 
council he succeeded in renewing the ancient 
league, and in engaging the Indians to assist in 
defending the fort at Oswego, in case of its being- 
attacked by the French. 

This judicious arrangement was well-timed; 
for, during the spring of 1729, Governor Mont- 
gomery received intelligence from the vigilant 
Burnet, that an expedition was organizing in 
Canada for the purpose of destroying the obnox- 
ious trading-post. The garrison was immediately 
reinforced by a body of men taken from the in- 
dependent companies, and the Six Nations having 
proclaimed their determination to join in repel- 
ling the enemy, the prospect of success being 
thus rendered doubtful, the Governor of Canada 



1731.] FORTRESS AT CROWN POINT. 161 

broke up liis preparations, and abandoned his 
design. 

Unfortunately, at tbis period the wise policy 
of Burnet was repudiated by the king, wbo, 
tbrougb ignorance or intrigue, repealed the acts 
prohibiting the Canadian trade, and thereby re- 
stored to the French those advantages of which 
they had been deprived by the judicious but un- 
popular measures for which Burnet, trusting to 
time for his justification, had willingly incurred 
so much odium. 

In the month of May, 1731, the long disputed 
boundary question between Connecticut and New 
York was finally settled. On the 1st of July 
following, Governor Montgomery dying, the ad- 
ministration devolved upon Rip Van Dam, presi- 
dent of the council. In the short period during 
which Van Dam held the office of acting gover- 
nor, the French, in defiance of previous treaty 
stipulations, entered the territory of the Iroquois, 
and seizing upon Crown Point, proceeded to build 
a fortress there. This daring and dangerous en- 
croachment, which secured the command of Lake 
Champlain, and laid open to the enemy the fron- 
tiers of New York, Massachusetts, and New 
Ilampsliire, was regarded with singular apathy 
by the assembly of New York. No attempt was 
made to counteract it until 1737, when a scliemo 
was projected for settling a body of Scotch High- 
landers on Lake George, to serve as a military 
14* 



162 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1732. 

colony in the defence of the province. It was 
partially carried out, but owing to the selfishness 
and ill faith of the provincial government, was 
finally abandoned. 

In August, 1732, William Cosby arrived at 
New York, commissioned to succeed Montgomery 
in the government of the province. The charac- 
ter of Cosby had preceded him. Previously 
Governor of Minorca, he was charged with having 
illegally seized and confiscated the property of 
a Spanish merchant, evading a judicial inquiry 
into his conduct by secreting the papers which 
would have enabled the owner to prove the crimi- 
nality of the act. Having, however, been active 
in opposing the measures brought forward in Par- 
liament the preceding year for the encourage- 
ment of the sugar islands, the assembly evinced 
their gratitude by continuing the revenue for five 
years, by fixing his salary at two thousand pounds 
a year, and by presenting him with the sum of 
seven hundred and fifty pounds for the assistance 
he had rendered their agents in London. Indig- 
nant at receiving so small a remuneration for his 
services, he broke out into violent abuse of the 
assembly, and sarcastically asked Morris, one of 
the members, why they did not add pounds, shil- 
lings, and pence? "Do they think I came from 
England for money?" said he. "I'll make them 
know better." This display of temper gained 
for him an addition of two hundred and fifty 



1782.] cosby's arbitrary conduct. 163 

pounds, but he lost from that time the confidence 
of the assembly. 

Provision was made at the same session for the 
first free school established in New York. The 
bill for this purpose, drafted by Phillips, the 
speaker, and introduced by Delancey, occasioned 
no little merriment, from its preamble containing 
the singular declaration that, " the youth of this 
colony are found, by manifold experience, to be 
not inferior in their natural genius to the youth 
of any other country in the world." 

Avaricious and arbitrary, Cosby was no sooner 
placed at ease in respect to a revenue, than, cast- 
ing off all restraint, he exhibited himself in his 
true colours. He suspended Van Dam and others 
from their seats in council without authority. He 
deprived Morris, the chief justice, of his office, 
which he bestowed upon the younger Delancey. 
He quarrelled with Alexander, the secretary of 
state, and with Smith, one of the leading lawyers 
in the province. When reminded of his illegal 
proceedings, he answered flippantly, "I have 
great interest in England." He took care, how- 
ever, to write to the Lords of Trade, defending 
his measures as necessary for the preservation 
of the king's prerogative ; charging the asseml)ly, 
and part of the council with being tainted with 
« Boston principles." 

Finding remonstrances of no avail, tlie oppo- 
nents of the governor at lengtli made known their 



164 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1733. 

political grievances through the columns of the 
public press. Prior to 1733, Bradford's New York 
Gazette was the only newspaper published in the 
province. As this was in the interest of the go- 
vernor, a new paper, called the Weekly Journal, 
was issued by John Peter Zenger, as the organ 
of the popular party. It soon became filled with 
articles in which the measures of the government 
were criticised with great severity. Among 
these, certain "low ballads" wei^e charged by the 
chief justice to be libels. Not being able to ob- 
tain the concurrence of the assembly in a prose- 
cution of the printer, Cosby and his council, on 
the 2d of December, took upon themselves to 
order four of the journals to be publicly burned 
by the common hangman, and imprisoned Zenger, 
on the charge of publishing false and malicious 
libels. 

The grand jury refusing to indict him, Brad- 
ley, the attorney-general, filed an information. 
Alexander and Smith, the counsel for Zenger, 
having excepted to the commissions of the judges 
on the ground of illegality, the court ordered 
their names to be struck from the roll of attor- 
neys. 

At that period there were only three lawyers 
of distinguished legal reputation at the New York 
bar. Smith and Alexander were among those 
most prominent; the third, Murray, was a fast 
friend of the governor, and could not therefore 



1733.] LIBERTY OF THE PRESS VINDICATED. 165 

be expected to risk the favour of the latter by 
acting as counsel for the prisoner. Under these 
circumstances, the friends of Zenger sent se- 
cretly to Philadelphia and engaged the services 
of Andrew Hamilton, a jurist of great learning 
and experience. When the trial came on, Ha- 
milton, admitting the fact of publication, boldly 
asserted that the matters charged were true, and 
therefore no libels. Being under no awe of the 
court, he ridiculed the decision of the judges, 
that a libel was the more dangerous for being 
true, and by wit, sarcasm, and invective, and by 
an eloquent appeal to the jury to protect, in the 
cause of the poor printer Zenger, the nobler 
cause of liberty, he so effectually diverted their 
minds from the question at issue, as to obtain for 
his client a verdict of acquittal. 

The instant the decision was made known, the 
hall rang with triumphant shouts. The wrath 
of the judges, who threatened a commitment of 
the ringleaders, was met by a significant rejoin- 
der, and Hamilton was hurried from the court to 
partake of a splendid dinner prepared for his re- 
ception. He received from the corporation a 
gold box, enclosing the freedom of the city, and 
on his return to Philadelphia the next day, was 
escorted by a large concourse of people to his 
barge, which he entered under a salute of cannon. 
The other colonies also rejoiced at an issue which 
Btrengthcned and encouraged the growth of li- 



166 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1736. 

beral principles; but the contest proved in the 
end unfortunate to the "poor printer" Zenger. 
Elevated for a time into a bewildering notoriety, 
he launched out into an extravagant expenditure, 
and, neglecting his business, sank finally into 
poverty and neglect. 

Setting at defiance all laws which interfered 
with his pleasure or rapacity, Cosby still pursued 
his arbitrary and unprincipled career. He con- 
tinued the assembly against their own petitions 
for a dissolution, and in direct opposition to the 
known wishes of the people. He increased the 
public discontent by insisting upon a re-survey 
of old grants and patents, and by infamously de- 
stroying important documents placed in his hands 
for inspection by the corporation of Albany. On 
the 10th of March, 1736, greatly to the relief of 
the province, he died suddenly. The rejoicings 
which followed this event had not subsided, when 
a bitter contest arose between Van Dam and 
Clarke, each of whom claimed the right to ad- 
minister the government. Their respective par- 
tisans took up the quarrel. Morris, the former 
chief justice, lately arrived from England, 
espoused the cause of Van Dam, and placed him- 
self at the head of the popular party. The feud 
had already risen to such a height, that Clarke 
had withdrawn into the fort, and called around 
him the military for his protection. Upon being 
asked for his advice in this state of afi'airs, Mor- 



1737.] LIEUTEXAXT-GOVERNOR CLARKE. 167 

ris replied significantlj, «'If you don't hang 
them, they will hang you." Fortunately, how- 
ever, the crisis was averted by the arrival of 
despatches on the 12th of October, which con- 
firmed Clarke in his authority, and which were 
followed shortly after by a commission advancing 
him to the rank of lieutenant-governor. 



CHAPTER Xni. 

Character of Lieutenant-governor Clarke — His policy — Con- 
duct of the provincial party — Their reply to his opening ad- 
dress — Extraordinary issue of paper money — Disfranchise- 
ment of the Jews — Snare laid for the popular leaders — Its 
success — Permanent revenue refused — Negro plot in IVew^ 
York — Terror of the citizens^ — Evidence of Mary Burton — 
The conspiracy doubted — Judicial murder of Ury — Arrival 
of Governor Clinton — His quarrel with Chief Justice Delan- 
cey — Dilliculties with the assembly — War between England 
and France — Activity of the French — Capture of Louisburg 
— Settlements around Saratoga ravaged — Invasion of Cana- 
da projected — Assembling of the provincial levies — Boston 
menaced by a French licet — -Subsidence of the alarm — Poli- 
tical feuds in New York — The village of Saratoga burned — 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

English by birth, though for a long time 
resident of the province, the new lieutenant- 
governor was no sooner fairly installed in ollicc 
than he evinced a politic disposition to overlook 
past differences, and to disarm opposition by 
smooth words and a specious courtesy. 

Owing his first minor njjpointmcnt in tlie pro- 
vince to the court influence of an uncle, he had 



168 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1737. 

sedulously improved his opportunities until he had 
reached his present elevated position. Though 
labouring under the deficiencies of a limited edu- 
cation, he was a man of talent, and had made 
himself thoroughly conversant with the condition 
and affairs of the colony. Cunning rather than 
sagacious, cool and cautious yet active, he pre- 
ferred to win his way by address rather than by 
force, and while serving the crown with a reason- 
able degree of fidelity, seized every advantage 
which his station gave him to improve his own 
fortune. The first act of Governor Clarke was a 
popular one. He dissolved the old and convened 
a new assembly. This measure, as indicating a 
design to cast off his old political associates, was 
regarded with alarm by the old government party, 
while the provincials, hailing it as a triumph, 
easily secured a majority at the ensuing election. 
After a session of two days, during midsummer, 
they adjourned until the 23d of August, both 
parties anxiously watching the course of the go- 
vernor, and desirous of securing his support. 

But however much the provincial party might 
have wished to obtain the countenance of their 
chief magistrate, they did not, when the assembly 
met in autumn, show any disposition to purchase 
it at the expense of the principles they had 
espoused. 

Their reply to the opening address of the go- 
vernor rigorously defined the policy they intended 



1737.] ISSUE OF PAPER MONEY. 169 

to pursue. In answer to the usual demand for 
appropriations for revenue, and other purposes, 
they said boldly : "You are not to expect that we 
will either raise sums unfit to be raised, or put 
what we shall raise into the power of a governor 
to misapply, if we can prevent it ; nor shall we 
make up any other deficiencies than what we con- 
ceive are fit and just to be paid, or continue that 
support or revenue we shall raise, for any longer 
time than one year ; nor do we think it conve- 
nient to do even that, until such laws are passed 
as we conceive necessary for the safety of the 
inhabitants of the colony, who have reposed a 
trust in us for that only purpose, and which we 
arc sure you will think it reasonable we should 
act agreeably to ; and by the grace of God we 
will endeavour not to deceive them." The ses- 
sion was prolonged for nearly four months, dur- 
ing which a grant of revenue for one year was 
passed, and a bill for holding triennial assemblies ; 
but the latter was soon after rejected in England. 
But by far the most important act of the ses- 
sion was the passage of a bill authorizing an issue 
of paper money to the amount of forty-eight 
thousand three hundred and fifty pounds. Forty 
thousand of this was to be loaned to the respec- 
tive counties, in small sums, for twelve years, at 
five per cent.; while, to secure the signature of 
the governor, the remainder was ordered to be ap- 
plied to public uses. 

15 



170 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1737. 

One other occurrence took place during the 
assembly of 1737, which strongly indicated the 
prejudices of the period. The seat of delegate 
for the city being contested by Van Home, the 
son of a deceased member, against Phillips, the 
late speaker, the house ordered that neither 
should sit until the conduct of the sheriff had un- 
dergone an examination. The latter was speedily 
acquitted of having acted improperly, upon the 
testimony of the petitioner ; but Smith, who, 
with Alexander, had been invited to resume his 
practice at the bar, acting as counsel for Van 
Home, disputed the qualification of Jews as elect- 
ors, and after a brilliant speech, in which his ex- 
tensive theological learning was brought to bear 
upon the case with great effect, the assembly de- 
cided that Jews were not entitled to vote, and a 
law was passed soon after to disfranchise them. 
Though steering a middle course between the two 
great parties, Clarke had failed in obtaining a 
grant of revenue for a term of years ; but he 
concealed his chagrin, expressed himself satisfied 
with the conduct of the delegates, and assented, 
with great apparent cheerfulness, to the bills 
which required his signature. 

In the mean time, however, he was secretly ma- 
turing a stratagem to render the popular leaders 
odious in the eyes of their constituents. Affect- 
ing to regard them with great favour, he offered 
them places under the government, promising to 



1741.] NEGRO PLOT. 171 

exert his influence with the council to secure 
their appointment, well knowing at the same time 
that the nominations would be rejected. The 
scheme, artfully laid, was completely successful. 
Morris, Johnson, and others, fell into the snare, 
and not only lost office, but were viewed with 
hatred and contempt by their former supporters. 
Confidence in the popular party being thus weak- 
ened, the elections of 1739 resulted in favour of 
the government. 

But the new assembly, though importuned to 
do so, would not pass a grant of revenue for any 
longer term than one year, and this policy was 
for the future strictly adhered to. Thus, after a 
vehement struggle, which had lasted for thirty 
years, a great popular victory was consummated. 

Fully restored to the confidence of his council, 
whose countenance was necessary to the success 
of his land speculations, Clarke continued to ad- 
mhiister the government, if not without occa- 
sional excitement, yet without provoking the 
opposition of succeeding assemblies beyond his 
power to allay. 

In the year 1741, the city of New York, then 
numbering some twelve thousand inhabitants, 
was fearfully agitated by the pretended discovery 
of a negro plot. On the 18th of March, the cha- 
pel and buildings in the fort were consumed by 
fire, which was at first attributed to the careless- 
ness of a workman employed in repairing the 



172 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1741. 

gutters of the governor's residence. A report 
was spread shortly after that the fire was pre- 
meditated, and seven fires occurring in succession, 
amidst the general alarm suspicion soon ripened 
into certainty. Several slaves were accused of 
having a knowledge of the plot, and during their 
examination two other fires took place, from one 
of which a negro was discovered in the act of 
making a precipitate escape. 

The evidence of Mary Burton confirmed the 
general impression of a conspiracy. This woman, 
an indented servant to one Hughson, the keeper 
of a low tavern to which negroes were in the ha- 
bit of resorting, testified that certain slaves, in 
her presence and in that of Hughson, his wife, 
and another woman, had consulted together to 
burn the city and massacre the whites. Impro- 
bable as her relation was, it was eagerly believed, 
and although in subsequent examinations she 
varied materially from her previous statements, 
the terrified citizens still persisted in giving cre- 
dence to her testimony. Twenty-one whites and 
one hundred and sixty slaves and free blacks 
were committed to prison. The whole summer 
was spent in prosecuting these unfortunate peo- 
ple. Rumours were magnified into facts, and the 
wildest assertions accepted for proofs. Thirteen 
negroes were burned at the stake ; eighteen were 
hanged, and seventy transported. Hughson and 
one negro were gibbeted. The wife of Hughson, 



1743.] EXECUTION OF U-RY. 173 

their woman-servant, and Ury, a nonjuring school- 
master, were also executed. 

Condemned upon insufficient evidence, in the 
midst of a tumult of passion, fear, and prejudice, 
it has become a grave doubt whether any of the 
victims were really guilty of the crime for which 
they suffered an ignominious death. 

The execution of Ury, who died asserting his 
innocence, was unquestionably a judicial murder. 
lie was accused of covertly exercising the office 
of a Catholic priest — itself a capital offence in the 
province — and of urging on the plot by offers of 
absolution to the conspirators. He was convicted 
on both indictments, though neither of the charges 
were legally proved, and the last was rendered 
totally unworthy of credence by the character of 
the witnesses. How many more persons might 
have suffered from the combined effects of terror 
and religious intolerance^ it is difficult now to say ; 
but when the woman Burton, the principal in- 
former, bewildered by the frequent examinations 
to which she had been subjected, began to extend 
her accusations to persons of spotless reputation, 
a reaction took place in the minds of the citizens, 
and all further convictions were stayed. 

In the autumn of 1748, Governor Clarke was 
superseded by George Clinton, an admiral in the 
British navy, and uncle to the young Earl of 
Lincoln. Desirous of improving his fortune, and 
neither sensitive nor scrupulous, but easy and 

15* 



174 histOey of new york. [1743. 

good-humoured, tlie new governor, with the ex- 
ception of being retiring and unsocial, seemed 
well calculated to effect a good understanding 
with the assembly. Having taken Chief Justice 
Delancey into his confidence, the vast influence 
possessed by that arch-intriguer tended to pro- 
duce more harmonious action in the government 
than had been exhibited for many years. This 
calm was, however, but the prelude to a storm. 
Quarrelling with Delancey, the governor became 
estranged from his former confidant, and took 
Golden, a bitter opponent of the chief justice, 
into his favour instead. 

The latter, placing himself at the head of 
opposition, and strong in having a majority of 
his relations and friends in the assembly, com- 
menced a series of violent and incessant attacks 
upon the executive, which lasted during the whole 
period that Clinton remained in the province. 

In the mean time war had been declared between 
England and France. Acting with their accus- 
tomed promptness, a French expedition was im- 
mediately organized for a descent upon Nova 
Scotia. Fort Cansean was easily captured ; but 
Annapolis, formerly known as Port Royal, though 
twice invested by a mixed body of French and 
Indians, was fortunately saved by a timely rein- 
forcement of troops from Massachusetts. 

Conscious that while the French held posses- 
sion of Louisburg, a strongly fortified post on the 



1745.] CAPTURE OF CAPE BRETON. 175 

island of Cape Breton, the New England States 
would be subject to constant annoyances from 
that quarter, Shirley, the governor of Massa- 
chusetts, proposed its reduction by the colonial 
troops alone, and called upon the other provinces 
to co-operate. The assembly of New York were 
at first inclined to render no assistance, but at 
the session of 1745, they reluctantly voted three 
thousand pounds toward the expenses of the ex- 
pedition, which they shortly after increased to 
five thousand. Clinton, ashamed of their luke- 
warmness in an afi"air of so much moment, for- 
warded to Shirley ten pieces of field ordnance, 
and a supply of provisions obtained by private 
subscription. The result justified the boldness 
of the enterprise. On the 17th of June, after a 
siege of forty-nine days, terms of capitulation 
were agreed upon, and the garrison, amounting 
to six hundred and fifty men, with thirteen hun- 
dred inhabitants of the town, capable of bearing 
arms, surrendered to the conquerors. 

In the mean time, owing to the disputes exist- 
ing between Clinton and his assembly, the fron- 
tiers of New York lay open to incursions from 
the enemy. Burning to revenge the loss of Lou- 
isburg, a party of French and Indians were 
despatched from Crown Point, and entering the 
territory of Massachusetts, cnpturcd the fort at 
Hoosick, in Berkshire county. Penetrating thence 
to within forty miles of Albany, they surprised, 



176 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [174:5, 

duving the night of the 16th of November, the set- 
tlements around Saratoga, massacred a number of 
the inhabitants, and carried others into captivity. 
Smarting under these disasters, and inspirited 
by the conquest of Cape Breton, with its almost 
impregnable fortress, the old project for an in- 
vasion of Canada was revived. Many of the pro- 
vinces at once agreeing to furnish their respec- 
tive quotas, levies were promptly made as far 
south as Virginia. The New England troops were 
collected at Louisburg, in readiness to co-operate 
with a British fleet and army, while those from 
Connecticut, New York, and the provinces farther 
south, assembled at Albany. The chief command 
of the latter w^as given to Clinton. The British 
fleet failing to arrive, the New England levies 
were partially disbanded ; but reluctant to give 
up wholly an enterprise for which such vast pre- 
parations had been made, fifteen hundred of the 
Massachusetts troops marched for Albany to form 
a junction with Clinton. They were speedily re- 
called by the unexpected appearance of a French 
fleet oS" the coast of Nova Scotia, commanded by 
the Duke D'Anville, and instead of advancing on 
Montreal, the le\des at Albany returned to assist 
in the defence of their respective pro^dnces. The 
French squadron consisted of forty ships of war, 
besides numerous transports, having on board 
four thousand regular troops. Boston being me- 
naced, an army of ten thousand men vras collected 



1747.] FEUD WITH THE ASSEMBLY. 177 

in the vicinitj, and the fortifications on Castle 
Ishmd were strengthened and extended. But 
the danger, imminent as it was, soon passed away. 
The French fleet, weakened by storms, by ship- 
wreck, and by sickness among the troops, was in 
no condition to undertake ofl'ensive operations. 
D'Anville died suddenly, and the second in com- 
mand committed suicide. Another storm off Cape 
Sable completely dispersed the remainder of the 
armament, and such of the ships as escaped the 
tempest returned singly to France. 

The fierce feud existing between Clinton and 
the assembly still continued to rage as hotly as 
ever, and charges and countercharges were con- 
stantly being made, couched in language alike 
discreditable to both parties. The governor ac- 
cused the assembly of wilful neglect in securing 
the protection of the frontiers. The latter retorted 
by imputing the distressed condition of the pro- 
vince to fraud and mismanagement on the part 
of Clinton. In the midst of these violent agita- 
tions, which were prompted neither by patriot- 
ism nor integrity, the province suffered greatly. 
During the year 1747 Saratoga was a second 
time attacked by a party of French and Indians,'^ 
the village burned to the ground, and the inha- 
bitants barbarously massacred. The peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, which took place the following 
year, at length brought these alarming incursions 
to a close. 



178 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1748, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Treaty with the Six Nations — Shirley's conspiracy — Action of 
CHnton — His violent disputes with the assembly — Demands 
a permanent revenue — Their able reply — Clinton appeals to 
the English government — Movements of Shirley and Bel- 
cher — Walpole's bill to strengthen the king's prerogative — Co- 
lonial protests — Its defeat in parliament — Cautious policy 
of New York — Dismissal of Colden — Clinton's letters to the 
Board of Trade — Taxation by parliament suggested — En- 
croachments of the French — Exploration of the Ohio valley 
— Attempt to restrict the limits of Acadia — Patent of the 
Ohio company — Trading house built at Brownsville — -Indian 
council at Albany — Duquesne descends into the valley of the 
Ohio — Alarm of the western Indians — Instructions from Eng- 
land — Sir Danvers Osborne appointed governor of New York 
— His character, conduct, and death. 

In July, 1748, three months previous to the 
final ratification of the treaty, Clinton, accompa- 
nied by his chief adviser, Colden, attended a 
convention of delegates from the Six Nations, at 
which Shirley, the governor, and Hutchinson and 
Oliver, commissioners of Massachusetts, were by 
previous concert also present. The conference 
terminated satisfactorily, the Iroquois and their 
^llies agreeing neither to send deputies into Ca- 
nada, nor to allow any French emissaries within 
their territory. 

Soon after the convention was dissolved, Shir- 
ley arranged with Clinton a secret scheme for 
shaking ofi" the dependence of the provincial go- 



1748.] DISPUTES CONTINUED. 179 

vernors upon their respective assemblies, by forc- 
ing them to grant permanent salaries and a re- 
venue at the disposal of the crown ; or, failing in 
that, to foment existing disputes to such a height 
as to compel the British parliament to interfere. 
The project thus secretly formed was vigorously 
pressed by Clinton. When the assembly met 
in October, 1748, he demanded a revenue for 
five years, and the annexation of fixed salaries 
to the oflices in the gift of the crown, but not 
to the ofiicials by name. He defended his ac- 
ceptance of annual grants previously, on the 
ground of the existing war, and his desire to 
promote harmony ; but that now the time was 
come to resist the innovations which had weak- 
ened the king's prerogative. 

The assembly, in reply, refused to grant a sup- 
port for any longer term than one year, or to 
make any change in the method of voting sala- 
ries. Their address, coarse and bold, closed with 
a vituperation of Golden, who was characterized 
as '<mean and despicable," and a censure of Clin- 
ton for admitting! him into his confidence. Char;::;- 
ing them in return with a violation of decency, 
the governor refused to receive the address, of* 
which a copy had been sent him for perusal. The 
assembly then appealed tlirough the newspapers 
to the people, for which they were pointedly re- 
buked by Clinton, who threatened to send their 
address to the king. 



180 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1749. 

At the session of 1749 the dispute was renewed. 
A permanent revenue was again insisted upon, 
and a positive answer required of the assembly 
whether thej would or would not, grant it agree- 
ably to the royal instructions. The response was, 
that " the faithful representatives of the people 
can never recede from the method of an annual 
support." Clinton now shifted his ground, and 
claimed the right to disburse the moneys voted for 
public purposes, on the plea that, under the En- 
glish constitution, the powers to grant and to dis- 
tribute were vested in different branches of the 
government. Admitting that such was indeed 
the usage in England, the assembly denied that 
it ought to be made applicable to the provinces. 
^'In the one case," they said, ^'the disposition of 
the sums raised was intrusted to the king, who 
was supposed to have an interest in the welfare 
of his subjects, and whose officers in that country 
were amenable to justice. With provincial go- 
vernors the case was different. They were gene- 
rally strangers, who, holding no land in the co- 
lonies over which they were appointed to rule, 
seldom regarded the welfare of the people. Un- 
certain how long they would be permitted to 
retain their offices, they were eager to seize every 
opportunity of improving their fortunes, and 
would never want pretexts for misapplication if 
they had the disposition of the money. This they 
could do with impunity, as the people, thus plun- 



1749.] APPEAL — Shirley's movements. 181 

dered, had no mode of redress, inasmuch as their 
representatives could neither call the governor to 
account, nor suspend the council." 

This able vindication of their course roused^ the 
indignation of Clinton. Charging them with being 
guilty of disrespect, he refused to receive the ad- 
dress ; and until it was accepted the house de- 
clined entering upon the business of the session. 
Against conduct so resolute the governor had no 
remedy but a prorogation. 

In the mean time Clinton had not been idle in 
keeping the English nunistry well informed with 
regard to the dissensions which agitated the pro- 
vince. He charged the assembly with usurping 
parliamentary powers; with restricting the pre- 
rogatives of the governor, by assuming to them- 
selves the sole authority to disburse the public 
money ; with keeping the crown officers in a con- 
dition of dependence, by granting the salaries 
annually, and by naming the persons to whom 
the salaries were to be paid. As an effective 
remedy for this disordered state of affairs, he 
urged that parliament, whose right to control the 
colonies had never been disputed, should be called 
upon to interpose, and take from an intractable 
assembly the power to slight the king's instruc- 
tions, or to weaken the authority of their go- 
vernor. Shirley was equally active, and Belcher, 
the Governor of New Jersey, entered warmly 
with his council into the conspiracy. Chief Jus- 
16 



182 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1749. 

tice Morris, at enmity with Delancey, embarking 
for England on business connected with the boun- 
daries between New York and New Jersey, un- 
dertook to support the allegations of Clinton, and 
Shirley set sail about the same time to quicken, 
by his personal influence, the action of the mi- 
nistry. 

But the representations of the confederated 
governors had already produced the desired effect 
in England. On the 3d of March, 1749, under 
cover of suppressing the evils of colonial paper 
money, the Board of Trade, through Horatio Wal- 
pole, reported a bill ^'to make all orders by the 
king, or under his authority, the highest law in 
America." 

The agents of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania, immediately 
protested against the proposed measure as " re- 
pugnant to the laws and constitution of Great 
Britain," and their own privileges and charters. 
Their objections being sustained by Onslow, the 
Speaker of the house, the bill was finally passed, 
shorn of its most obnoxious clauses. 

But, though unsuccessful in this insidious at- 
tempt to strengthen the royal prerogative, the 
Board of Trade determined to persevere. In 
New York, however, the introduction of so im- 
portant a measure into parliament had the effect 
of rendering both parties more temperate and 
cautious. To guard against misrepresentation, 



1750.] MODERATION OF BOTH PARTIES. 183 

and to protect the general interests of the pro- 
vince, the assembly, as early as April, 1748, had 
appointed an agent in London with instructions 
to correspond directly with the Speaker of the 
house. This agent, Mr. Charles, owed his appoint- 
ment to the recommendation of Admiral Sir Peter 
Warren, related by marriage to the Delancey 
family. Active in the interests of his employers, 
Charles was soon enabled to inform them that the 
attention of the Board of Trade had been particu- 
larly directed to the disturbed condition of Nevr 
York, and that they were preparing a voluminous 
report on the state of the province, to be laid be- 
fore the royal council. The receipt of tidings so 
alarming induced the assembly to assume a more 
moderate tone. 

Clinton also had his own causes for uneasiness. 
He dreaded a recall; and from the failure of the 
most important clause in Walpole's bill, was either 
led to doubt the success of the ministry in their 
endeavours to give additional force to the ro3^al 
orders, or he feared to push matters to extremity 
before he was confident of receiving efficient sup- 
port. Under these circumstances, he thought it 
best to conciliate opposition by dismissing Col- 
den, and submitting himself to the cooler coun- 
sels of Alexander. But in the midst of the tem- 
porary calm which succeeded, Clinton did not 
fail, during the spring of 17/30, to press upon the 
attention of the English government the absolute 



184 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1751. 

necessity of securing obedience to the royal au- 
thority, and relieving the crown officers from 
their condition of dependence upon the colonial 
assemblies, by a system of parliamentary taxation 
to be made general over all the American pro- 
vinces. Adopting the same commodities advo- 
cated by Golden a year previous, he suggested 
that imposts on wine and West India produce 
would be sufficient to defray the expenses of the 
civil list. Preferring to attain the same ends by 
strengthening the king's prerogative, the Board 
of Trade were at first disinclined to adopt any 
other mode of reducing the colonies to obedience. 
But the inefficacy of royal orders becoming 
every day more apparent, they finally came to 
the conclusion, in the spring of 1751, to bring 
the question to an issue in New York by the ap- 
pointment of a new governor, strictly charged to 
demand of the assembly a fixed revenue, and the 
surrender of its disposition. A revenue from the 
whole of the colonies, to be obtained by Acts of 
Parliament, was at the same time resolved upon. 
Dissensions, however, in the English cabinet, de- 
layed for a time the prosecution of measures so 
dangerous to the liberties of America. 

During this period of intrigue and dissension, 
the French were steadily persevering in their ef- 
forts to extend the limits of their dominion over 
the regions watered by the Ohio and the Missis- 
sippi. In 1749, the Count De la Gallisoniere, 



1751.] OHIO COMPANY. 185 

Governor- General of Canada, despatclied an of- 
ficer, -with three hundred men, with instructions 
to explore the region of the Ohio, to bury leaden 
plates, engraved with the arms of France, at the 
mouths of important creeks, to take possession of 
the country by formal verbal process, and to for- 
bid the Indians from tradinoj with the Encrlish. 

On the north-east an attempt was also made to 
restrict the disputed limits of Acadia to a part 
of the peninsula now known as Nova Scotia, and 
the old French inhabitants were invited to remove 
from the ceded territory and open settlements 
upon the newly-established frontier, where forts 
had been established for their protection. In the 
west the military station at Niagara was im- 
proved and strengthened, and permission ob- 
tained from the Iroquois to build a trading-house 
in the vicinity of the Mohawk country. 

In the mean time, to secure the valley of the 
Ohio to the English, a company, organized in 
England and Virginia, had obtained a grant of five 
hundred thousand acres of land between the Kana- 
wha and Monongahela, on condition of settling 
thereon one hundred families within seven years 
from the date of their patent. In order to effect 
their purpose with advantage, Christopher Gist, 
an experienced trader, was employed by the Ohio 
company to examine the region west of the moun- 
tains, as far as the falls of the Ohio. His report 
of the country, and the amicable disposition of 

16* 



186 HISTORY OF KETT YORK. [1751 

the TYestern tribes, proving fayourable, a trading 
jQouse "was erected in 1751, at Brownsville, on 
the Monongahela. 

To traverse the designs of the French, Clin- 
ton, acting upon the advice of his council, invited 
the governors of all the provinces to meet de- 
puties from the Six Nations in congress, at Al- 
bany, but only Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
South Carolina responded to the call. The con- 
vention met in July. Old differences were har 
monized, and a new treaty of alliance, offensive 
and defensive, was formed, in which the Cataw- 
bas also joined. 

Notwithstanding these ominous preparations 
for resistance, the Marquis Duquesne, the new 
governor of Canada, determined to maintain the 
claim of France to the valley of the Ohio. In 
the summer of 1752, he sent a party of French 
and Indians to Sandusky, to punish the Miamis 
for trading wdth the English ; and early the fol- 
lowing year pushed forward a body of tw^elve 
hundred men to establish posts at Erie, Water- 
ford, and Venango. The latter being on the 
main stream of the Alleghany, the western In- 
dians, alarmed at these encroachments, entreated 
the Governor of Virginia to check the progress 
of the French by building a fort at the junction 
of that river with the Monongahela, promising 
to assist in its defence. Dinwiddle wrote to Eng- 



1753.] ' OSBORNE SENT OUT. 187 

land for advice, and was ordered to repel intru- 
sion by force. 

While the steady and resolute movements of 
the French were rapidly tending to a renewal of 
hostilities, the Board of Trade were busy with 
schemes having in view the better ^'regulation" 
of the colonies. The long-pending difficulties 
in New York first claiming their attention, they 
determined, before appealing to the direct action 
of parliament, upon making a final effort to re- 
establish the executive authority by means of 
arbitrary instructions. In order to carry out 
this purpose with effect, Sir Danvers Osborne, 
brother-in-law to the Earl of Halifax, was com- 
missioned to succeed Clinton in the government 
of the province, while at the same time, to conci- 
liate the refractory assembly, Delancey was ap- 
pointed lieutenant-governor. 

Osborne was strictly and imperatively charged 
to maintain in its fullest integrity the royal pre- 
rogative, and to demand of the assembly " a per- 
manent revenue, solid, indefinite, and without 
limitation," to be disbursed by the governor alone, 
under the advice of his council. 

No person could have been selected more illy 
fitted to perform this arduous service than Sir 
Danvers Osborne. Naturally mild, aminble, and 
gentlemanly, the recent loss of a beloved wife 
had utterly overpowered the little strength of 
character he originally possessed, and had sub- 



188 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1753. 

jected him to a constant depression of spirits 
nearly allied to lunacy. He reached New York 
on the 7th of October, 1753, and on the 10th, 
after taking the oaths of office in the presence of 
the council, his commission was publicly read at 
the town hall. Returning thence to the fort with 
Clinton, his sensitive nature was deeply wounded 
by the contumelious expressions vented by the 
people against his predecessor. ^'I expect the 
like treatment," said he, gloomily, "before I 
leave the government." On his return to the 
council chamber, the bold address of the city 
corporation disturbed him still more. "We are 
sufficiently assured," said they, "that your ex- 
cellency will be as averse from countenancing, 
as we from brooking, any infringements of our 
inestimable liberties, civil or religious." 

Meeting with Delancey at dinner the next day, 
Osborne complained of indisposition, and said, 
with a smile, "I believe I shall soon leave you 
the government — I find myself unable to support 
the burden of it." 

The following day he convened the council, 
and laying his instructions before them, desired 
their opinions. " The assembly will never yield 
obedience," said they. With great emotion Os- 
borne n^xt addressed Smith, who had hitherto re- 
mained silent : when, receiving a similar answer, 
" he sighed, turned about, reclined against a win- 



1753.] OSBORNE'S SUICIDE. 189 

dow frame, and exclaimed, ' tlien what am I come 
here for?' " 

Pleading ill healtli, he returned to his lodg- 
ings in great mental distress, and during the 
course of the evening consulted a physician. 
After dismissing his servant about midnight, he 
burned a number of private papers, enclosed and 
directed a sum of money to the person from "ft'hom 
he had borrowed it, and retiring to the garden 
of the house just before the break of day, delibe- 
rately hanged himself. 



190 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1753. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Lieutenant-Governor Delancey — Royal instructions — Course of 
the assembly — George Washington — Movements of the 
French — First skirmish — Death of Juraonville — Surrender 
of Fort Necessity — Congress at Albany — Franklin's plan of 
union — Rejected by the colonies — Disaffection in New York 
• — Establishment of a college — Liberal grants by the assem- 
bly for the defence of the frontiers — General Braddock 
appointed commander-in-chief — Congress of governors at 
Alexandria — Plan of campaign — Success in Nova Scotia — 
Rout of Braddock's army — His death — Crown Point expe- 
dition — Fort Edward built — Approach of Dieskau — Skirmish 
with the provincials — Battle of Lake George — Rout of the 
French — Capture of Dieskau — Honours awarded to Johnson 
by parliament — Neglect of Lyman — Inactivity of Johnson — 
Fort William Henry built — Niagara expedition — Reverses 
and disappointments of Shh'ley — Sickness of troops — Fort 
Oswego built. 

By the unexpected death of Sir Danvers Osborne, 
the arbitrary measures he was commissioned to 
. enforce failed of their intended effect. Delancey, 
the new lieutenant-governor, having been so long 
in the confidence of the assembly, was not dis- 
posed to weaken his popularity by insisting upon 
obedience to instructions which he well knew 
would never be complied with. Even the council, 
although a majority of them were opposed to the 
extreme views of the popular party, were not 
inclined to acquiesce in the demand for a fixed 
revenue. Thus supported, both by his friends 



1753.] WASHINGTON COMMISSIONED. 191 

and opponents, Delancey merely urged, as a mat- 
ter of form, obedience to the royal mandate, and 
having discharged his duty to his superiors, left 
the assembly free to act as they thought proper. 
Under such circumstances their course may 
readily be conjectured. They respectfully de- 
clined making any change in the rule they had 
adopted respecting annual appropriations, but 
conceded to the governor and council the autho- 
rity to disburse the public moneys. 

This firm and steadfast opposition to the royal 
commands might have given rise to serious conse- 
quences, had it not been that the attention of the 
English government was diverted from the ques- 
tion of prerogative by the threatening aspect of 
affairs upon the frontiers. 

The colonies, generally, had received orders to 
repel the advance of the French ; but it fell to 
Dinwiddie, as governor of Virginia, to take the 
initiative. Desirous of avoiding hostilities, if 
possible, he commissioned George "Washington, 
then in his twenty-first year, a native of Virginia, 
and a surveyor by profession, to cross the moun- 
tains with a message to the French commandant, 
demanding that tlic French should withdraw from 
the territory of the Ohio, and release the traders 
captured at Sandusky. After a dangerous and 
painful journey of eleven weeks, Washington re- 
turned. He had held a friendly conference with 
Tanacharison, the half-king, and various Indians 



192 HISTOEY OF NEW YORK. [1754. 

assembled at Logstown; had carefuly examined 
the point of land formed by the junction of the 
Alleghany and Monongahela with the Ohio, 
with a view to the construction of a fort at that 
place; and had delivered his message to St. 
Pierre, the commandant of Fort le Boeuf at Wa- 
terford, a few miles south of Lake Erie. The 
answer of St. Pierre, and the unguarded conver- 
sation of his officers, rendering it certain that the 
French were determined not to recede from the 
territory of which they had taken possession, Din- 
widdie convened the assembly of Virginia in Janu- 
ary, 1754, and obtained from them a grant of ten 
thousand pounds towards the defence of the 
frontiers. Forty-one men were despatched to 
build a fort at the forks of the Ohio. The mili- 
tary force of Virginia was increased to six hun- 
dred men, and Washington, commissioned as lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the regiment, was ordered to 
Alexandria to enlist recruits. 

The other colonies being called upon for assist- 
ance, the assembly of New York voted, during 
April, one thousand pounds to Virginia, and de- 
spatched two companies of regulars to support 
the militia of that province ; but declined giving 
any further aid, on the ground that it was doubt- 
ful whether the French had actually encroached 
upon any territory belonging to the colonies. To 
strengthen their own frontiers, they granted four 
hundred and fifty pounds for an additional gar- 



1T54.] MOVEMEXTS OF THE FRENCH. 193 

rison at Oswego, and agreed to become responsi- 
ble for the repairs of that fort, and to bear their 
proportion of the expenses which might be in- 
curred in the erection of such new forts as should 
be found necessary for the common defence. 

"While these resolutions were under debate. 
Washington, at the head of one hundred and fifty- 
men, was marching for the forks of the Ohio, to 
assist in building the fort already commenced at 
that point. On the 17th of April, three days 
before he reached Wills' Creek, the French, one 
thousand strong, descending the Alleghany from 
Venango, had driven off the workmen at the forks 
of the Ohio, and were strengthening and com- 
pleting the works already began there, naming 
the post of which they had thus taken forcible 
possession Fort Duquesne. 

Washington had no sooner received this alarm- 
ing intelligence, than he resolved to push forward 
and fortify himself at the mouth of Redstone 
Creek, on the Monongahela, until reinforcements 
should arrive. Moving but slowly by reason of 
the ruggedness of the way, and the deep fords 
which had to be crossed, he was met at the cross- 
ing of the Youghioghany by a message from 
Tanacharison, the half-king, warning him of the 
approach of a French detachment, and tlieir 
avowed resolution to attack the first English they 
met. Hastening to Great Meadows, he threw up 
an intrenchment, and after sending out a small 

17 



194 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1754. 

mounted party on wagon horses to reconnoiter, 
encamped for the night. On the morning of the 
27th, Gist, Tvhohad been the companion of Wash- 
ington on his jommey to Fort le Boeuf, and who 
had opened a plantation on the Yoiighioghany, 
brought fresh tidings of the vicinity of the ene- 
my. Late in the evening, an express arriving 
from Tanacharison, Washington marched with 
his command, through the rain and darkness, to 
the Indian camp, and early the following day, ac- 
companied by the half-king and his warriors, 
proceeded in search of the enemy. Having dis- 
covered the place of their concealment, he at- 
tacked them by surprise, routed them with the 
loss of ten killed and took twenty-one prisoners. 
Among the killed was Jumonville, the com- 
mander. 

Reinforcements coming up soon after, an inde- 
pendent company was left at Great Meadows to 
build a stockade, called Fort Necessity, while the 
Virginians were employed in opening a road to 
Gist's plantation, and a path to the mouth of the 
Redstone. In the midst of these labours the 
French advanced in force, and Washington was 
compelled to fall back upon Fort Necessity. On 
the 3d of July the fort was assaulted, and after 
nine hours fighting a capitulation was agreed upon, 
by the terms of which the garrison were permitted 
to retire across the mountains, bearing with them 
their arms and baggage. 



1754.] franklin's plan of union. 195 

While tliese events were transpiring on the 
western frontiers, a convention of delegates from 
the colonies north of the Potomac, with the 
exception of Kew Jersey, assembled at Albany 
to meet the Six Nations in council, and to con- 
cert measures for the common defence. It was 
at this congress that Franklin, one of the dele- 
gates from Pennsylvania, brought forward his 
celebrated plan of union. He proposed to esta- 
blish a grand council, to consist of forty-eight 
members, who were to be elected triennially by 
the provincial assemblies of all the colonies, not 
any one of which was to be represented by more 
than seven, nor less than two delegates. The 
head of this federal government was to be a pre- 
sident-general, commissioned by the crown, with 
power to nominate military officers, and a negative 
on the acts of the council. The federal govern- 
ment was to make peace or war with the Indians, 
regulate the Indian trade, purchase lands from 
them, raise soldiers, build forts, equip vessels to 
guard the sea coast, the lakes, and the great 
rivers, to enact laws, and levy such taxes as might 
be Q([U'd\ and just. 

This plan of union, though adopted by the con- 
vention, was rejected by the colonial assemblies 
as giving too much power to the crown ; while in 
England it was regarded by the Board of Trade 
us favouring the independence of the provinces. 

At this period there were many causes operat- 



196 HISTORY OF NJEW YORK. [1755. 

ing to render New York disaffected to the autho- 
rity of England. The original European set- 
tlers, the Dutch, and their descendants, had never 
been disposed to submit patiently to the jurisdic- 
tion of their conquerors, and the breach had been 
"widened by the preferences shown to the Episco- 
palian form of worship. The restrictions in their 
commercial relations were also severely felt, and 
as constantly evaded whenever an opportunity of- 
fered. Nor were those who held large and du- 
bious grants of land better disposed, for while 
some feared an inquiry into the validity of their 
titles, others dreaded the operation of a land tax. 

The establishment of a college in 1754, the pre- 
sidency of which was limited to such as were in 
communion with the Church of England, the mem- 
bers of which did not constitute one-tenth of the 
population of the province, weakened in those of 
other religious denominations that sentiment of 
loyalty which many had hitherto entertained, 
while it inflicted the first serious blow upon the 
popularity of Delancey. 

Notwithstanding the growing disaffection to- 
ward the lieutenant-governor, the assembly, 
alarmed at the successes of the French in the 
Ohio territory, readily acquiesced in his wishes 
to provide for the defence of the province, and 
for undertaking such other operations against the 
enemy as might be thought best conducive to the 
common interest. In February, 1755, they voted 



1755.] ACTIVE PREPARATIONS. 197 

forty-five thousand pounds in bills of credit ; and 
in May, after the plan of the campaign had been 
agreed upon, they ordered eight hundred men to 
be enlisted, to co-operate with the forces raising 
in the other colonies, and appropriated ten thou- 
sand pounds toward defraying the expense of the 
enterprise. 

The British government having received tid- 
ings of Washington's expulsion from the Monon- 
gahela, were no less active. Although there had 
been no formal declaration of war, they antici- 
cipated approaching hostilities by appointing 
General Braddock commander-in-chief in Ame- 
rica, and by sending with him two regiments of 
regulars to assist the troops levied in the pro- 
vinces. On the fourteenth of April, the govern- 
ors of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia, met Braddock in con- 
gress at Alexandria, and concerted with him the 
plan of the campaign. Four expeditions were 
agreed upon. Lawrence, lieutenant-governor of 
Nova Scotia, was to expel the French beyond the 
supposed limits of that province. Johnson, the 
Indian agent in the Mulunvk country, was to 
conduct a mixed force of provincials and Iroiiuois 
against the fort at Crown Point. Shirley, the 
second in command to Braddock, was to assault 
the post at Niagara, while the latter in person 
undertook the reduction of Fort Du((uesne. 

The operations in Nova Scotia resulted in the 

17* 



198 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1755. 

capture of Beau Sejour, and the occupation of 
the settlements at Minas and Annapolis ; but the 
inhuman abduction of the peaceful Acadiens from 
their happy homes, and their distribution among 
the English colonies, where they pined gradually 
away in misery and destitution, has fixed a stain 
upon the projectors of that barbarous act which 
time can never efface. 

In the mean time Braddock was slowly moving 
toward the Ohio. Holding the provincials in 
utter contempt, and profoundly ignorant of the 
Indian mode of warfare, he refused to throw for- 
ward scouting parties in advan'ce of the army, 
and imprudently suffered himself to be surprised 
by a small body of French and Indians lying in 
ambush within seven miles of Fort Duquesne. 
Fighting in masses, exposed to the deadly fire of 
a concealed enemy, the troops fell by hundreds. 
Braddock himself, after having had five horses 
disabled under him, was mortally wounded. The 
troops at length becoming thoroughly disorgan- 
ized, broke and fled, having sustained a loss in 
killed and wounded of sixty officers, and near 
seven hundred men. The Virginians under Wash- 
ington taking to the trees, and fighting with their 
accustomed coolness and courage, assisted in co- 
vering the retreat of the regulars until nearly the 
whole of them fell a sacrifice to their heroism. 
The retreating forces were not rallied until they 
reached the rear division commanded by Colonel 



1755.] DIESKAU EMBAPcKS. 199 

Dunbar. On the 13th of June, four days after 
the battle, Braddock exph-ed of his wounds, and 
■was buried at the road-side, near Fort Necessity. 
Finding the spirit of the rcguhars utterly broken, 
Dunbar abandoned the expedition, and recross- 
ing the mountains, halted awhile at Cumberland, 
and proceeding from thence to Philadelphia, 
finally reached Albany, where he went into win- 
ter quarters. 

At the period of these disasters on the Ohio, 
the New England troops, under General Lyman, 
of Connecticut, in conjunction with the levies 
from New York and Now Jersey, had assembled, 
on their march to Crown Point, at the portage 
between the Hudson and Lake George, where, 
by the 8th of August, they had built Fort Ed- 
ward. When Johnson arrived from Albany, with 
stores and artillery, he assumed the command. 
Leaving a garrison at Fort Edward, he crossed 
the portage with the remainder of his force, 
amounting, with the Lidians, to some thirty-four 
liundrcd men, and encamped on the southern shore 
of Lake George. 

Aware of the dangers by which they were threat- 
ened, the French had not been idle. Shortly after 
Braddock had sailed from England for tlic Che- 
sapeake Bay, Baron Dicskau embarked on board 
the French squadron at Brest, with four thousand 
troops destined for America. Eluding tlie Bri- 
tish fleet cruising off the Banks of Newfoundland, 



200 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1755. 

he landed a thousand men at Louisburg, which 
had been restored to France by the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, and sailed with the remainder 
to Quebec. Having been instructed to reduce 
Oswego, Dieskau proceeded to Montreal for that 
purpose, but was diverted from his object by 
learning that Crown Point was menaced by the 
provincial forces encamped on the margin of 
Lake George. He immediately determined to 
break up the latter expedition by an assault upon 
Fort Edward, but as his Indian alhes were re- 
luctant to attempt the reduction of a work 
strengthened by artillery, he was persuaded to 
change his design, and attack Johnson in his 
camp. 

Unconscious that Dieskau was advancing upon 
himself, Johnson sent Colonel Williams with one 
thousand men, and two hundred Mohawk war- 
riors, commanded by the brave Hendrick, their 
aged chief, to the relief of Fort Edward. At 
a distance of about three miles from the camp, 
while marching carelessly, and without any ap- 
prehension of meeting the enemy, the detachment 
fell into an ambuscade, and was speedily thrown 
into confusion. Williams and Hendrick were 
both slain, but the troops being rallied by Whit- 
ney, the next in comand, they fell back in good 
order to the camp. 

Flushed with this success, Dieskau pressed im- 
mediately forward against Johnson. The camp 



1755.] BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE. 201 

of tlie latter was secured from assault on the 
flanks by impassable swamps, and in front by an 
imperfect breastwork of trees hastily felled for 
that purpose, and by the wagons and baggage of 
the troops. A few pieces of cannon brought from 
Fort Edward only two days before, were hastily 
mounted and disposed along the line. Dieskau, 
driving the fugitives before him, had hoped by 
closing upon their rear to penetrate the camp 
with them, and thus derive an advantage from 
the confusion which would necessarily ensue. In 
this, however, he was disappointed. Immediately 
the artillery opened, the Indians and Canadians 
forming his right and left flanks, halted, and 
crouching in the brushwood could not be prevailed 
upon to take any part in the battle. "With the 
regulars alone Dieskau marched directly upon 
the centre, and attempted to force it. Johnson 
being wounded early in the action, the command 
of the provincials devolved upon General Lyman. 
For five hours, sheltered by their slender breast- 
work, the Americans maintained an incessant and 
well-directed fire. Dieskau being wounded in 
several places, and the greater portion of the 
regulars terribly shattered, orders were at length 
given to retreat. The pursuit being closely 
pressed by the provincials, Dieskau, finding him- 
self unable, from the nature of his wounds, to 
keep up with his routed army, seated himself upon 
the stump of a tree, and ordering his attendants 



202 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1755. 

to place his military dress beside him, dismissed 
them. In this position he was found by one of 
the pm-suers, who fired at and mortally wounded 
him. 

The same evening a detachment of two hun- 
dred New Hampshire militia, under McGrinnis, 
sallied out from Fort Edward, and intercepted a 
party of three hundred French, who were retreat- 
ing in good order with the baggage of the army, 
and after a spirited conflict completely routed 
them. The loss sustained by the French in these 
engagements has been variously estimated ; that 
of the provincials amounted, in killed and 
wounded, to upward of three hundred men. For 
this victory, subsequently known as the battle of 
Lake George, Johnson was created a baronet, 
and received a grant from parliament of five 
thousand pounds ; while General Lyman, to whom 
the success of the provincials was mainly attri- 
buted, obtained no other reward for his gallantry 
than the honourable esteem of the people of New 
England. 

Instead of proceeding at once to the reduction 
of Crown Point, Johnson, apprehensive of an at- 
tack with artillery, lingered on the borders of 
Lake George, where he employed his troops in 
building Fort William Henry. When the ap- 
proach of winter precluded all further advance, 
he left six hundred men to garrison the newly- 



1755.] sniRLEY gNSuccESSFUL. 203 

erected fortress, and dismissed the remainder to 
their homes. 

The expedition of Shirley against Niagara was 
not even partially successful. The troops col- 
lected for this enterprise, discouraged by the tid- 
ings of Braddock's defeat, and broken down by 
sickness and the difficulties of the route, finally 
reached Oswego during the month of August, 
where they commenced the erection of a new 
fort, and constructed a sufficient number of boats 
to bear them across Lake Ontario. But storms, 
heavy rains, and a scarcity of provisions, com- 
bined to delay the progress of the enterprise until 
the season was too far advanced to attempt it 
with any reasonable degree of safety. Baffled 
by these untoward circumstances, Shirley left 
seven hundred men in garrison at Oswego, and 
disbanding the rest of his forces, returned to 
Albany. 



204: HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1755. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Sir Charles Hardy appointed governor of New York — His 
popularity — Congress of governors — Expeditions agreed 
upon against Crown Point, Forts Niagara and Duquesne — 
Surprise of Ticonderoga proposed by Shirley — Rejected by 
New York — Action of the assembly — Taxation for revenue 
resorted to — War formally declared against France' — Ob- 
noxious acts passed in England — Arrival of Abercrombie — 
Assembling of the troops — Arrival of Loudoun — Activity of 
Montcalm — Oswego attacked — Death of Mercer — Capitula- 
tion of Forts Ontario and Oswego — Loudoun abandons 
offensive operations — Quarrels with the citizens of New 
York — Campaign of 1757 — Futile expedition to Louisburg 
— Siege of Fort William Henry — Spirited defence of Monroe 
— Surrender of the garrison — Indian outrages — Conduct 
of Webb — Of Loudoun — Campaign of 1758 — Energetic 
course of Pitt — Louisburg captured — Abercrombie repulsed 
before Ticonderoga — Fort Frontenac surprised and captured 
by Bradstreet — Forbes marches against Fort Duquesne — 
Its abandonment by the French. 

On the 2d of September, 1755, Sir Charles 
Hardy arrived at New York, and assumed the 
government of the province ; but as the new go- 
vernor, submitting to the counsel of his prede- 
cessor, did not seek to enforce the instructions 
with which he was charged, he soon became 
popular with the assembly, a majority of which 
still consisted of members friendly to the interest 
of Delancey. 

Nothing could more strikingly display the ne- 
cessity of union among the colonies than the 



1755.] CONGRESS OF GOVERNORS. 205 

want of success in the late hostile operations. 
With forces far superior in point of numbers to 
those which the French could bring into the field, 
the various expeditions had not only accomplished 
nothing of moment, but, in the case of Braddock, 
had sustained a terrible defeat, which encou- 
raged the Indians friendly to the French to fol- 
low up the successes of their active ally, by 
ravaging and laying waste the weak and exposed 
frontiers. 

In the midst of this deplorable state of affairs, 
a congress of governors and military officers met 
at New York, on the 12th of December, to adopt 
a plan of operations for the ensuing year. All 
of those present expressed themselves conscious 
that no imposing success could attend the efforts 
of the colonics until parliament should interfere, 
and, by a general system of taxation and a uni- 
form plan of operations, give that unity and 
directness to the forces employed which the dis- 
orderly action of the respective colonial assem- 
blies at present prevented. 

It was, however, agreed upon by the council 
to raise an army of twenty-one thousand men, 
one-half of whom were to renew the expedition 
against Crown Point ; six thousand to attempt 
the reduction of Fort Niagara ; while the remain- 
ing five thousand were to be employed against 
Fort Duquesne and the settlements on tlie Chau- 
diere. A subsequent propo.'^ition was made by 

18 



206 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1756. 

Shirley, who had been appointed commander-in- 
chief, to surprise, by a winter expedition, the 
post at Ticonderoga, and thereby facilitate the 
capture of Crown Point. But the assembly of 
New York, to whom the project was communi- 
cated by the governor, refused to assist in the 
prosecution of the enterprise, unless Shirley 
would reinforce the provincial troops by a larger 
number of regulars than he could spare without 
injury to the plan laid down for the summer 
campaign. 

For the latter, however, the assembly voted a 
levy of seventeen hundred men, and issued bills 
of credit on the faith of the colony to the amount 
of forty thousand pounds. The previous appro- 
priations having exhausted the resources of the 
province, the assembly, at the December session, 
resorted to taxation for a revenue. Duties were 
imposed on imports and on stamps, and such 
other means were adopted to meet the expenses 
of the war as were thought least burdensome to 
the people. 

Great Britain at length formally declared war, 
and the Earl of Loudoun was appointed comman- 
der-in-chief throughout America, with a commis- 
sion as governor of Virginia, and extraordinary 
powers. Acts had also been passed by parliament 
subordinating the provincial officers to those com- 
missioned by the crown, and for quartering the 
troops on private houses. Both these acts gave 



1756.] ASSEMBLY OF THE TROOPS. 207 

great offence tliroughout the colonies, which was 
not lessened by the arrogance and discourtesy 
with which they were enforced. 

On the 25th of June, General Abercromhie, 
the second in command to Loudoun, reached 
Albany, having brought over with him from 
Enojland the 35th rcf^jiment and Murray's reai- 

O O t/ CD 

ment of Highlanders. There also were assembled 
seven thousand provincials and the remains of 
Braddock's regiments. The forts at Oswego, by 
the resolute activity of Bradstreet of New York, 
the commissary-general, had been amply supplied 
with provisions and stores for five thousand men. 
Intelligence being brought by the latter that the 
French were advancing to the assault of that post, 
Abercrombie, who had been vainly urged previ- 
ously by Shirley to reinforce the garrison, now 
ordered General Webb to be in readiness for 
that service ; but his march was delayed until 
the arrival of the Earl of Loudoun on the 27th 
of July. The main army at length prepared to 
advance upon Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
while Webb was despatched with his regiment of 
regulars to the relief of Oswego. It was then 
too late. 

The Marquis of Montcalm, who had lately suc- 
ceeded Dieskau as commander of the French 
forces in Canada, seizing rapid advantage of the 
isolated condition of Oswego, placed himself at 
the head of a mixed force of regulars, militia, 



» 



208 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1756. 

and Indians, to tlie number of five thousand men. 
Ascending the St. Lawrence from Quebec, he 
crossed Lake Ontario with wonderful expedition, 
and appeared before the forts at Oswego on the 
evening of the 12th of August. These forts, 
two in number, were situated upon the right and 
left banks of the river from which the station 
was named, and at a short distance from the 
lake. Fort Ontario, built upon an eminence 
which commanded the more substantial works 
of Oswego, was strongly garrisoned by Peppe- 
rell's and Shirley's regiments, numbering over 
fifteen hundred men. Against this garrison, on 
the morning of the 13th, Montcalm, well sup- 
plied with artillery, opened his fire ; and during 
the whole day the assault and defence were con- 
tinued with unceasing vigour and resolution. 
Finding his ammunition failing, Mercer, the 
English commandant, spiked his cannon, and 
silently evacuating Fort Ontario, crossed the 
river under cover of the night, and occupied Fort 
Oswego with the greater portion of his force. 
Montcalm promptly took possession of the de- 
serted work, and commenced an uninterrupted 
fire upon the opposite fortress. On the 14th, 
Mercer having been previously killed by a can- 
non-ball, the garrison proposed terms of capitu- 
lation. The loss in killed and wounded was not 
great on either side ; but one hundred and thirty- 
four pieces of artillery, six armed vessels, two 



1T5G.] OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS ABANDONED. 209 

hundred boats and batteaux, and an immense 
quantity of stores and provisions, were captured 
by the French. The garrison, over one. thou- 
sand in number, after enduring some outrages 
from the Indians, which were greatly exagge- 
rated at the time, were sent to Montreal as pri- 
soners of war. To propitiate the Six Nations, 
Montcalm razed the forts, and returned to Ca- 
nada in triumph. 

The alarm created by the successful achieve- 
ment of this important and ably-conducted enter- 
prise, led to the abandonment of offensive opera- 
tions on the part of the British commanders. 
"Webb, after advancing as far as the Oneida 
portage, fell back precipitately to Albany. Lou- 
doun, the commander-in-chief, recalled the main 
army, then on its way to Ticonderoga, and after 
reinforcing Forts Edward and William, dismissed 
the provincials and ordered the regulars into 
winter quarters. A thousand of the latter were 
crowded into the barracks at New York ; but the 
magistrates of the city declining to grant free 
lodgings for the officers, the imperious earl 
threatened, that if the demand was not complied 
with, he would billet the whole of his forces upon 
the city. This outrageous conduct produced 
great indignation among the inhabitants; and 
though the difficulty was finally arranged by pri- 
vate subscription, the insolent arrogance of Lou- 
is* 



210 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1757. 

doun created toward him a general feeling of 
detestation. 

The campaign of 1757 was equally inglorious 
to the British arms. The early part of the sum- 
mer was wasted in preparations ; and it was not 
until July that the indolent and imbecile Lou- 
doun, after providing for the safety of the fron- 
tiers, was enabled to leave New York to co-ope- 
rate with a fleet under Admiral Holborne in the 
attempted reduction of Louisburg. Sir Charles 
Hardy having been appointed to a naval com- 
mand in this expedition, the government of New 
York was again left in the hands of Delancey. 
While Loudoun, with a well-appointed army of 
ten thousand men, was loitering away his time 
at Halifax, a French squadron of seventeen sail 
anchoring in the harbour of Louisburg discon- 
certed the proposed attack. The indignant 
officers, with their broken-spirited troops, were 
re-embarked for New York. 

They had scarcely set sail on their return 
from what was contemptuously called " a cab- 
bage-planting expedition," in allusion to a vege- 
table garden with which Loudoun had amused 
his inactivity at Halifax, before tidings reached 
them of the capture of Fort William Henry. 
Gathering together the whole disposable force 
of Canada, regulars, Canadians, and Indians, to 
the number of eight thousand men, Montcalm 
ascended Lake George, and on the 2d of August 



1757.] FORT ^YILLIAM ITEXRY CAPTURED. 211 

suddenly appeared before the astonished garri- 
son. Disembarking his troops at the southern 
point of the lake, he sent a portion of the Cana- 
dians to cut off all communication with Webb, 
who lay at Fort Edward, only fourteen miles 
distant, with an army of five thousand men. 
Another strong detachment, under De Levi, was 
posted in the woods to the north of the fort; 
while the main body took up a position on the 
west side of the lake. On the 4th of August, 
Monroe, the veteran commander of Fort "William 
Henry, was summoned to surrender; but con- 
fidently expecting to be reinforced by Webb, he 
determined upon a vigorous defence. Montcalm 
at once hastened up his artillery and commenced 
the attack. The conduct of General Webb in 
this emergency has been justly censured. During 
the progress of the siege, Sir AYilliam Johnson 
repeatedly solicited permission to march with a 
strong body of provincials to the relief of the 
beleaguered garrison ; but, labouring under the 
apprehension that Fort Edward would be the 
next object of attack, Webb not only rescinded 
the permission which after much importunity 
had been extorted from him, but wrote to Mon- 
roe, stating his inability to render him any as- 
sistance, and advising him to capitulate on the 
best terms he could obtain. 

Notwithstanding the garvison at Fort William 
Henry did not much exceed two thousand men, 



212 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1757. 

the brave Monroe protracted the defence for six 
days ; when, his ammunition being nearly ex- 
hausted and only four of his guns remaining ser- 
viceable, he agreed to surrender, on condition 
that his troops should be allowed to march out 
with the honours of war, and furnished with an 
escort to Fort Edward sufficient to protect them 
from the vindictive ferocity of the savages. To 
these terms Montcalm consented ; but, although 
both himself and his officers perilled their own 
lives to shield the vanquished garrison from the 
tomahawk and the scalping-knife, in spite of their 
most strenuous personal efforts many of the pri- 
soners were massacred, and a still larger number 
were seized and hurried off into captivity. 

Within a few days after the surrender of Mon- 
roe, Webb had received additions of volunteers 
and militia until the force at Fort Edward was 
increased to twenty thousand men. It was then, 
however, too late to render any effective service. 
Satisfied with having achieved a triumph with so 
little loss to himself, Montcalm, hastily reducing 
the fort and out-buildings to a heap of ruins, 
re-embarked for Canada, bearing with him the 
immense quantity of stores which had fallen into 
his hands. 

In the midst of the alarm created by this suc- 
cessful incursion, Loudoun arrived at New York 
from his fruitless expedition against Louisburg, 
and, partaking of the general panic, proposed to 



1758.] ACTIVITY OF THE FREXCII. 213 

encamp on Long Island for the defence of the 
continent. And thus, amid the sneers of coffee- 
house wits and the contempt of his own officers, 
the summer was passed. With more men capable 
of bearing arms in a single province than there 
were male inhabitants in the whole territory of 
Canada, and with an army of regulars amounting 
to twenty thousand men, the English had been 
shamefully expelled from the valley of the Ohio 
and from the borders of Lake Ontario and Lake 
George. The French, victorious in every engage- 
ment, not only held possession of the disputed 
territory, but had succeeded in coercing the Six 
Nations to a position of neutrality ; while their 
own Indian allies, spreading themselves along 
the frontiers from Massachusetts to Virginia, 
scarcely met with any resistance to their fero- 
cious and sanguinary career. 

The campaign of 1758 opened under happier 
auspices. William Pitt, who " trampled upon 
impossibilities," and who had risen solely by the 
force of his commanding talents from the humble 
station of a cornet of dragoons to tlie head of the 
British cabinet, no sooner found himself in a po- 
sition to act witliout restraint, than he souglit, 
with all the energies of his large mind, to effect 
a radical change in the aspect of American 
affairs. Thorouglily acquainted witli the condi- 
tion of the colonics, he appeased the just discon- 
tent of the oflficers attached to the provincial 



214 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1758. 

levies by rescinding the odious army regulations, 
and allowing all, from the rank of colonel down- 
ward, an equal command with the British. By 
a circular addressed to the respective governors 
he called for all the men they could raise, to co- 
operate with the sea and land forces about to be 
sent from England ; taking upon himself to pro- 
vide arms, ammunition, tents, and provisions ; 
and, while requiring of the colonists to clothe 
and pay their levies, he promised that even these 
expenses should be reimbursed by parliament. 

His requisitions were promptly met by a hearty 
response. The governments of New England 
were profusely liberal. New York enlarged her 
quota from one thousand seven hundred men to 
two thousand six hundred and eighty, and voted 
one hundred thousand pounds to defray the 
charges of their service and equipment. Lou- 
doun was recalled, and Abercrombie appointed 
commander-in-chief. Early in May, fifty thou- 
sand men, including twenty-two thousand regu- 
lars, were ready to take the field. 

The plan of the campaign embraced three ex- 
peditions : Admiral Boscawen, with a squadron 
of thirty-eight ships of war and an army of four- 
teen thousand men under Amherst, assisted by 
Brigadier-General "VYolfe, was to attempt the 
reduction of Louisburg ; while Abercrombie, with 
fifteen thousand men, advanced against Ticonde- 
roga ; and Forbes, with six thousand regulars and 



1758.] CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. 215 

provincials, marched to the conquest of Fort Du- 
quesne and the expulsion of the French from the 
valley of the Ohio. 

On the 8th of June Boscawen appeared before 
the fortress at Louisburg, and the same day the 
troops were disembarked and the works invested. 
The siege was pressed with great caution and 
energy until the 27th of July, when, the French 
ships of war in the harbour having been destroyed 
or taken, the garrison capitulated, and the islands 
of Cape Breton and St. Johns were immediately 
taken possession of by the conquerors. 

During the progress of this siege, Abercrombie 
marched from Fort Edward w^ith nine thousand 
provincials and six thousand regulars, and em- 
barking in one thousand boats and batteaux, 
sailed down Lake George, bearing with him, on 
rafts prepared for that purpose, his artillery and 
military stores. The cloudless sun of that July 
morning looked down upon a magnificent array 
of troops in scarlet and gold, of burnished arms, 
and of waving banners, while the shores of the 
lake echoed back the inspiring sounds of martial 
musiC) by which the movements of the flotilla 
were accompanied. On the 6th of July, in a cove 
on the west side of the lake and near to its out- 
let, the army landed, and soon after, following 
the windings of the river, moved in four columns 
along the west bank of the stream, the regulars 
in the centre and the provincials on the flanks. 



216 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1758. 

While advancing in some confusion over the un-^ 
even ground of the dense forest, the right centre 
under Lord Howe suddenly encountered near 
Trout Brook a detachment of three hundred 
men, who, having been sent by Montcalm to 
watch the movements of the English, had, in 
falling back during the previous night, lost their 
way in the woods. A sharp but brief skirmish 
ensued, which ended in the complete rout of the 
French. One hundred and fifty-seven men were 
taken prisoners, the remainder being either killed 
or dispersed. But this petty triumph was sad- 
dened by the loss of Lord Howe, who was shot 
dead at the head of his column when the fii'ing 
first commenced. 

After encamping in the forest for the night, 
Abercrombie thought of falling back to the place 
of landing; but by the energy of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Bradstreet, the bridges, which had been 
broken up by the enemy above and below the 
falls of the stream, were renewed ; and a circuit 
of the stream being thus avoided, the army took 
possession of the Saw-mills, a strong military po- 
sition, within one mile and a half of the works at 
Ticonderoga. 

These works consisted of Fort Carillon, sur- 
rounded on three sides by the waters of the lake, 
and obstructed landward, on the north, by a mo- 
rass. To defend the approach from the north- 
west, Montcalm had thrown up a breastwork of 



1758.] ABERCROMBIE REPULSED. 217 

logs, before "wliicli an abatis bad been formed of 
trees felled, witli tbeir branches sharpened and 
extending outward. The force Tvithin the lines, 
by the opportune arrival of a detachment under 
De Levi, amounted, on the evening of the 7th 
of July, to three thousand six hundred and fifty 
men. 

On the morning of the 8th, Clerk, the chief 
engineer, who had been despatched to recon- 
noitre the lines, returned and reported them 
easily practicable. Without waiting for his ar- 
tillery, Abercrombie at once determined to carry 
the breastworks by storm, although Mount De- 
fiance, an eminence commanding the works, was 
in possession of his troops, and a few pieces of 
cannon judiciously placed upon it would have 
rendered Ticonderoga utterly untenable, with 
little, if any, loss to the besiegers. Having 
made his dispositions for the attack, the troops, 
with the regulars in front, were ordered to ad- 
vance with fixed bayonets, rush tlirough tlie fire 
of the enemy, and reserve their OAvn until they 
had passed the breastworks. Unconscious that 
on the riglit of the French the fortifications were 
unfinished, the storming party bore down upon 
tliat portion of the works which was most strong- 
ly protected by cannon. 

The resolute and sagacious Montcalm instantly 
seized advantage of the error. Stripping off his 
coat, he drew his sword, and for])idding, under 
19 



218 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1758. 

penalty of death, a single musket to be fired 
until he gave the word, he waited silently until. | 
the English had become embarrassed by the f 
limbs of the trees and by the loose logs and 
other entangling rubbish of which the abatis had 
been formed. Then, at the given signal, the fire 
of his artillery and musketry opened, and swept 
ofi" the assailants by hundreds. Checked for the 
moment, but not dismayed, the troops returned 
to the assault, and for four hours persevered in 
their desperate attempt to force a passage over 
the breastwork ; while the French, covered bj 
their intrenchments, kept up an incessant anc 
destructive fire with but little loss to themselves^ 
Daring even to the extreme of rashness, the re* 
gulars, entangled at every step they took, made 
successive attempts upon the centre, upon the 
left, and upon the right ; but at length becoming 
bewildered by the prodigious slaughter, they 
commenced to fire upon each other, when Aber- 
crombie ordered the attack to be abandoned, 
and retreated precipitately across the lake, with 
a loss, in killed and wounded, of nearly two 
thousand men. 

The army, disheartened and discontented, had 
no sooner reached Fort William Henry, than 
Bradstreet solicited permission to lead a strong 
force of provincials against Fort Frontenac. A 
detachment of three thousand men being reluc- 
tantly placed at his disposal, he proceeded at 






1758.] FORT FRONTEXAC DESTROYED. 219 

once, bj forced marches, from Lake George to 
Albany, ascended the Mohawk River, crossed 
the portage to Oneida Lake, embarked at Oswe- 
go in open boats, sailed down Lake Ontario, en- 
tered the St. Lawrence, and landing within a 
mile of the fort, invested it on the 26th of Au- 
gust; and on the following day compelled the 
astonished garrison to surrender. By this bril- 
liant exploit, thirty pieces of cannon, sixteen 
small mortars, and nine armed vessels, employed 
in supplying Duquesne and the other southern 
forts with military stores, fell into the hands of 
Bradstreet. Fort Frontenac, a strong stone 
structure, was laid in ruins ; and of its garrison, 
one hundred men became prisoners of w^ar, as 
many more having previously sought safety by 
flight. In twenty-four days Bradstreet was back 
at the Oneida portage, having lost but few^ men 
by the enemy, though some five hundred of his 
detachment, principally from New York, died 
soon after of sickness. 

In the mean time, General Forbes was on his 
way to Fort Duquesne, marching slowly, cutting 
a new road as he went, greatly to the indigna- 
tion of Washington, who would have pushed for- 
ward by the old route opened for Braddock's 
army. It was not until the 5th of November 
that the main body of the troops succeeded in 
reaching the camp at Loyal Ilanna. The sea- 
son being so far advanced, and a distance of 



220 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1758. 

fifty miles of unbroken forest yet remaining to 
be traversed, it was decided by a council of war 
to relinquish the expedition until the following 
year. Fortunately, at this juncture three pri- 
soners were brought in, from whom it was ascer- 
tained that the garrison, cut off from their usual 
supplies by the capture of Fort Frontenac, had 
been deserted by their Indian allies, upon whose 
fidelity the hope of a successful defence had 
mainly depended. Inspirited by these tidings, 
Forbes resolved to leave behind him the heavy 
baggage and artillery, and press forward at 
once. Washington, at his own solicitation, was 
thrown in advance to clear the way for the 
main army. But the obstacles were many and 
the progress slow ; and it was not until the 25th 
of November that the troops took peaceable pos- 
session of the ruins of Fort Duquesne, the French 
having fired and abandoned it the day previous. 
The structure was immediately ordered to be re- 
newed and strengthened, and having been sup- 
plied with a garrison of four hundred and fifty 
men, was named Fort Pitt, in honour of the mi- 
nister whose energy and decision had so greatly 
contributed to the general success of the cam- 
paign. 



1759.] CAMPAIGN OF 1759. 221 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Campaign of 1759 — Plan of conquest — Prideaux marches 
against Fort Niagara — Invests it — Is killed — Attempts of the 
French to raise the siege — Their defeat — Capitulation of the 
garrison — March of Amherst — Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point deserted — Wolfe sails for Quebec — Takes possession 
of the Isle of Orleans — Quebec — Its situation and defences — 
Defended by Montcalm — His encampment — Attempt to lire 
the British fleet frustrated — Occupation of Point Levi — 
Wolfe encamps on the east bank of the Montmorenci — 
Battle of Montmorenci — The English repulsed — Murray 
ordered up the St. Lawrence — The heights of Abraham — 
Plan of attack — Daring movement of Wolfe — Its success — 
Incredulity of Montcalm — Preparations for battle — The 
English victorious — Death of Wolfe — Montcalm mortally 
wounded — Capitulation of Quebec — Dc Levi attempts to 
recapture it — Capture of Montreal — Final conquest of 
Canada. 

Emboldened by the advantages already 
gained, Pitt now resolved upon the entire con- 
quest of Canada. His call upon the colonies 
for additional levies for the campaign of 1759 
was met with alacrity. New York voted her 
previous quota of two thousand six hundred and 
eighty men, and appropriated one hundred thou- 
sand pounds for their levy and equipment. 

The plan of conquest embraced three expedi- 
tions, separately commanded. "While Prideaux 
marched against the fort at Niagara, Amherst, 
who had succeeded Abercrombie as commander- 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

in-chief, was to advance upon Ticoncleroga and 
Crown Point, and, after reducing those places, 
was to proceed, bj way of Lake Champlain and 
the Sorel River, to the assistance of Wolfe, who, 
supported by a powerful fleet under Admiral 
Saunders, had been ordered to attempt the re- 
duction of Quebec. 

The first blow was struck by Prideaux. Leav- 
ing a portion of his troops at Oswego to recon- 
struct a fort at that place, he embarked on Lake 
Ontario with about two thousand regulars and 
provincials, reinforced by several hundred L'o- 
quois warriors led by Sir Vrilliam Johnson ; and 
landing on the 6th of July, without opposition, a 
few miles east of the peninsula upon which the 
ruins of Fort Niagara are yet to be seen, in- 
vested it in form. 

Anxious to preserve a station of so much im- 
portance to the safety of the interior posts, 
detachments from the garrisons at Detroit, Le 
Bosuf, Yenango, and Erie, to the number of 
twelve hundred men, accompanied by a strong 
body of Indian auxiliaries, hastened to the relief 
of the besieged. 

Receiving early intelligence of the danger by 
which he was menaced, Prideaux made his ar- 
rangements to meet it. Being killed on the 15th 
of July by the bursting of a cohorn, the chief 
command devolved upon Sir "William Johnson, 
who, faithfully following out the plans of his 



1759.] TICONDEROGA TAKEN. 228 

predecessor, posted his troops between the fort 
and the cataract, so as to intercept the advance 
of the French. On the morning of the 24th of 
July the latter made their appearance, and the 
war-whoop of their Indian allies was the signal 
for battle. The contest was sustained with great 
firmness and determination for nearly an hour ; 
but the Iroquois, gaining the flanks of the 
French, succeeded in throwing them into confu- 
sion, and the English charging at the same mo- 
ment, a panic ensued which ended in the total 
rout of the relieving force, large numbers of 
whom, hotly pursued, were killed in the sur- 
rounding forests. The next day the garrison, 
six hundred and seven in number, capitulated ; 
and communication with Erie, Le Boeuf, and Ve- 
nango being thus cut off, those posts were aban- 
doned soon after. 

While the western army was investing Fort 
Xla^i^ara, Amherst marched for Ticondero<]ra. 
With eleven thousand regulars and provincials 
lie descended Lake George in four columns of 
boats, and on the 22d of July disembarked his 
troops on the eastern shore of the outlet, nearly 
opposite to the point where Abercromljle had 
landed previously. The French being defeated 
the same evening in a skirmish at tlie Saw-mills, 
Bourlamarque, their commander, abandoned the 
lines from behind wliich Montcalm had repulsed 
his assailants with so much slaughter, leaving 



224 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

behind him four hundred men to garrison the 
fortress. Cautiously advancing, Amherst took 
possession of the deserted works ; but, before his 
batteries were completed, the garrison blew up 
their magazines, and on the 26th retreated to 
Crown Point. On the 31st, they evacuated the 
latter fort also, and fell back to Isle-aux-Noix, 
where, thirty-five hundred in number, well fur- 
nished with artillery, and having a naval supe- 
riority on the lake, they proceeded to entrench 
themselves. The repair of the abandoned forts, 
and the construction of vessels of sufiicient 
strength to cope with those of the enemy, occu- 
pied the attention of Amherst until the 10th of 
October, when, not knowing that Quebec had 
already fallen, he set sail for the purpose of co- 
operating with Wolfe; but being baffled by 
adverse winds, he returned to Crown Point on 
the 21st, and disposed of his troops in winter 
quarters. 

As soon as the harbour of Louisburg was free 
from floating ice, Wolfe, having under him Bri- 
gadiers Monckton, Townsend, and Murray, all 
three of whom were young men of station and 
affluence, had embarked his army of eight thou- 
sand men under convoy of a fleet of forty-four 
ships of the line, frigates, and armed vessels, 
commanded by Admiral Saunders, and, ascend- 
ing the St. Lawrence, had landed his forces on 



1759.] QUEBEC. 226 

the 27th of June upon the Isle of Orleans, a 
few miles below Quebec. 

The defence of the latter city had been under- 
taken by the Marquis Montcalm, whose troops, 
although superior in numbers to the British, con- 
sisted of less than two thousand regulars, the 
remainder being militia and Indians. He there- 
fore wisely determined to avoid a battle, if pos- 
sible, and to depend upon the natural strength 
of the country. The advantages which this gave 
him he had sedulously improved to the utmost. 

Situated upon a point of land formed by the 
junction of the St. Charles with the St. Law- 
rence, Quebec consisted of an upper and a lower 
town, which, besides being protected on the north 
and south by those rivers, were fortified with 
great care and art. The lower town, washed by 
the river, nestling at the base of a bold and rocky 
precipice, forty-eight feet in height, was over- 
looked by the upper town and citadel, which 
crested the summit. Tliis rocky and precipitous 
wall, extending for a considerable distance west- 
wardly along the St. Lawrence, opposed an 
almost impracticable barrier to any attempt 
which might be mu<le to surmount it ; and for 
nine miles above and below the city, or from 
Cape Rouge to the Falls of the ^lontmorenci, 
every weak point had been strengthened and 
protected. To guard these extensive lines, 
Montcalm had encamped his troops behind in- 



226 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

trenchments along the shore below Quebec, the 
centre of his position being the village of Beau- 
port, while his wings extended to the St. Charles 
on the one side and the Montmorenci on the 
other. Such were the obstacles which it was 
required of Wolfe to overcome before 'Ae could 
hope to obtain possession of the city. 

The troops had scarcely disembarked, before 
a furious storm arose, in the midst of which 
several of the smaller craft foundered. Some 
of the vessels of war also lost their anchors, and 
several of the transports sustained serious da- 
mage. Taking advantage of the confusion 
arising from this occurrence, the French let 
loose, on the night of the 28th, a fleet of fire- 
ships, which, floating down with the tide, created 
considerable alarm ; but the sailors resolutely 
boarded them, and towing them ashore, freed 
the shipping in the river from the danger by 
which they had been menaced. 

On the next night. Brigadier Murray, with 
four battalions, was despatched across the south 
channel to take possession of Point Levi, oppo- 
site to Quebec, and to commence the construc- 
tion of batteries for mortar and cannon. While 
these works were in progress, sixteen hundred 
of the citizens of Quebec, foreseeing the destruc- 
tion which must ensue, volunteered to cross the 
river and destroy them ; but, being seized with 
a panic, they fell into confusion, fired on one 



1750.] ATTACK OX QUEBEC. 227 

another, and retreated in disorder. The artil- 
lery opened soon after with great effect ; shells 
and red-hot balls entirely destroying the lower 
town, and considerably damaging the upper. 
The distance being found too great to make any 
impression upon the citadel, and the strong river- 
works protecting the place from assault, Wolfe, 
eager to bring Montcalm to battle, crossed the 
north channel on the night of the 9th of July, 
and encamped on the eastern bank of the Mont- 
morenci, opposite to the left wing of the French 
encampment. 

On an examination of the river, a ford was 
discovered about three miles from its mouth; 
but the opposite bank was intrenched, and so 
steep and woody, that the passage was pro- 
nounced impracticable. A reconnoissance was 
next made of the St. LawTcnce, above Quebec, 
but the bold shore was found equally well pro- 
tected by nature and art. Notwithstanding the 
obstacles which everywhere presented themselves, 
Wolfe projected an attempt to be made at St. 
Michael's Cove, three miles above the city ; but 
Montcalm foiled the design by planting a mortar 
and artillery at that point to play upon the ship- 
ping. A landing at the cove being thus rendered 
too hazardous, Wolfe returned to his camp on the 
Montmorenci, and adopted the desperate resolu- 
tion of crossing that river below the falls, where 
it was fordablc for several hours between the 



228 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

latter part of the ebb and the beginnmg of the 
flood tide. 

Accordingly, on the morning of the 31st of 
July, the brigades of Townsend and Murray 
were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to 
take advantage of the tide and pass the river on 
foot, while a detachment of grenadiers ajid a 
part of Monckton's brigade were descending from 
Point Levi to co-operate with them. 

At the proper time of the tide, the signal be- 
ing made, Townsend's corps was put in motion, 
and at the same moment the boats crossed the 
St. LaWi'ence ; but the latter grounding on a 
ledge, were thrown into confusion, and consider- 
able time was lost before they could be gotten 
off. During this interval, the march of Town- 
send's corps was delayed, while Wolfe, accom- 
panied by several naval officers, pushed off in a 
flat-bottomed boat, and selected a better place 
for the troops to land. Thinking it, even then, 
not too late to make an attack, a disembarkation 
was ordered. Thirteen companies of grenadiers 
and two hundred of the second Koyal American 
battalion being the first to reach the shore, were 
directed to form and begin the assault, so soon 
as Townsend's corps had crossed the ford, and 
the forces under Monckton had arrived within 
supporting distance. 

But, without waiting even to form, the advance 
party rushed forward in impetuous disorder to 



1759.] ATTACK ON QUEBEC. 229 

storm the intrenchments. Great numbers of them 
being swept away by the close and well-directed 
fire which immediately opened upon them, the 
remainder were driven to seek shelter in and 
around a redoubt which the French had aban- 
doned on their approach. Unable to organize 
under so destructive a fire, they were compelled 
to remain under cover until the approach of 
night, when Wolfe directed their recall, fearing 
that the returning tide would expose the troops 
which had crossed the Montmorenci to the dan- 
ger of being cut off by the enemy. The retreat 
was effected in good order and without loss ; but 
five hundred men had previously been killed and 
wounded ; such of the latter as could not be 
brouglit off, were subsequently murdered and 
scalped by the savages. 

Immediately after this severe repulse, Mur- 
ray, with twelve hundred men, assisted by a por- 
tion of the fleet under Rear-Admiral Holmes, 
was sent up the river to endeavour to destroy 
some French ships, and open a communication 
with Amherst. Two diff'crent attempts made 
by this detachment to cifect a landing on the 
north shore were repulsed ; but on a third, Mur- 
ray succeeded in surprising a weak military 
guard at Deschambault, and in burning a maga- 
zine containing provisions and military stores. 
From some prisoners captured at tlie latter place, 
Wolfe learned for the first time that Niagara had 
20 



230 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

surrendered, that the forts at Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point had been abandoned, and that 
Bourlamarque, with three thousand men, was 
fortifying himself at Isle-au-Noix. 

For a long time Wolfe waited hopefully for 
the approach of Amherst, until, chafing at his 
own ill success, and worn down by toil, watch- 
ing, and anxiety, he fell ill of a fever. Even 
during this period of physical prostration, the 
ardour of his mind remained unabated, and he 
proposed to his principal officers several despe- 
rate plans of attack, which were respectively 
abandoned. At length it was resolved to pro- 
ceed up the river, and attempt, by an assault on 
the city, to bring on a general engagement. The 
troops were accordingly transported from the 
camp at Montmorenci to Point Levi ; but, after 
a long and careful examination, the approaches to 
the citadel were found to be so strongly intrench- 
ed and fortified, that although the batteries of 
the lower town might have been silenced with 
ease from the ships, the latter would have been 
subjected to considerable damage from the mor- 
tars planted on the heights ; and so dangerous 
and unpromising did the undertaking appear, 
that Wolfe would not propose it to the admiral. 

By this time the month of September had set 
in, and there remained only one hazardous chance 
of success. A close scrutiny of the north shore 
had revealed to the quick eyes of Wolfe, at a 



1759.] ATTACK OX QUEBEC. 231 

short distance above the city, a narrow in- 
trenched path, very difficult of ascent, winding 
up the steep acclivity from the beach formed by 
a small cove of the river, and terminating in the 
Heights of Abraham. This path was protected 
by a battery of four guns, supported by a small 
force of Canadian militia, whose tents gleamed 
whitely on the summit of the heights. Here 
"Wolfe resolved to disembark five thousand men 
secretly by night, and, climbing the bank, to 
form them on the plain above in the rear of the 
town, where the fortifications were weakest ; 
although the rapidity of the stream, the narrow- 
ness of the landing-place, and the numerous sen- 
tinels posted watchfully along the shore, added 
greatly to the danger of the enterprise and the 
probability of an early discovery. 

The troops destined for this service were ac- 
cordingly transported to a considerable distance 
up the river, and all the necessary preparations 
liaving been made, at one o'clock on the morn- 
ing of the 13th they dropped silently down the 
river in boats, without using oar or sail, but 
trusting to the force of the current only. The 
ships followed shortly after to cover the landing. 
""Who goes there?" shouted a sentinel from the 
shore, as the boats were gliding quietly doAvn 
with the stream. "La France !" promptly re- 
sponded an English captain, in the language of 
the challenger. ""What regiment?" demanded 



232 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

the sentinel. ''De la Reine !" replied tlie cap- 
tain, who recollected that such was the name of 
a regiment which had been sent up the river 
tinder Bougainville to watch the movements of 
the English. "Pass on !" said the guard. They 
were subsequently hailed again several times, but 
averted detection by similar replies. One of the 
sentinels, however, was more suspicious. Run- 
ning down to the water's edge, he exclaimed, 
"Why don't you speak louder?" "Hush! we 
shall be overheard!" said the captain, signi- 
ficantly, and the boats were suffered to pass 
without further interruption. Some struck the 
landing-place, and others fell a little below it. 
The troops from the latter, among whom was 
"Wolfe, aided by bushes and projecting roots, 
clambered up the precipitous wall of rock, nearly 
two hundred feet in height, and dislodging the 
guard intrusted with the defence of the pathway, 
were speedily joined by their companions. By 
daybreak the whole of the troops had surmounted 
the obstacles which had impeded their progress, 
and stood in battle array upon the Plains of 
Abraham. 

When the intelligence first reached Montcalm, 
he received it with incredulity, for he had never 
conceived the possibility of any large body of 
men succeeding in so daring and perilous an en- 
terprise. The tidings being confirmed soon after, 
he sent swift messengers to Bougainville and De 



1759.] BATTLE OX THE PLAINS. 233 

Vaudreuil, the one commanding fifteen hundred 
and the other two thousand men, to join him 
with all possible despatch ; but after waiting im- 
patiently for some time without being reinforced 
by either, he crossed the St. Charles to dare the 
issue which had been thus suddenly forced upon 
him. By ten o'clock the two armies, each about 
five thousand in number, stood opposed to each 
other in order of battle. 

The advantage of the ground was with Mont- 
calm, but his troops, composed partly of militia 
and Indians, were far inferior to the English. 
After a cannonade of nearly an hour, from three 
small field-pieces on the part of the French, 
and two on that of the English, Montcalm, hav- 
ing posted fifteen hundred irregulars under cover 
of the corn-fields and bushes in front, advanced 
with the intention of outflanking the British. 
This movement being frustrated by Wolfe, who 
despatched Townsend with the regiment of Am- 
herst to form on the left, so as to present a dou- 
ble front to the enemy, Montcalm, taking his 
station on the left of his line, opposite to where 
Wolfe stood at the head of his grenadiers, ad- 
vanced with a dashing intrepidity to the attack. 

The English troops, disregarding the skir- 
mishers, by whom they were considerably an- 
noyed, reserved their fire until the main body 
of tlie enemy approached witliin forty yards, 
when they opened with such a regular, incessant, 
20* 



234 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

and destructive discharge of musketry, that the 
French soon exhibited signs of faltering. Mont- 
calm was wounded, and his second in command 
killed. Profiting hj the terrible check which his 
adversary had sustained, Wolfe ordered a charge 
with fixed bayonets, himself leading the twenty- 
eighth and the grenadiers. At this prompt and 
well-timed movement the French gave way ; but 
as Wolfe moved forward in advance of his sol- 
diers, he received a musket-ball in the wrist. 
Wrapping his handkerchief about the wound, he 
continued to lead his men. He was soon after 
struck more dangerously by a second bullet, but 
intent only upon securing the victory, he con- 
cealed the knov/ledge of it from those about him, 
and still pressed on. Just as the French were 
becoming completely disorganized, a third bullet 
pierced his breast, and he was carried to the 
rear mortally wounded. While reclining upon 
the ground, supported by one of his officers, he 
questioned him eagerly respecting the progress 
of the battle. Being told that the French ranks 
were greatly disordered, he desired to be lifted 
up, that he might once more view the field, but 
his eyes w^ere already growing dim. Suddenly 
the officer exclaimed, " They run ! they run !" 
*' Who run ?" said Wolfe. '' The French !" re- 
plied the officer. ''What, do they run already?" 
he responded ; and for a few moments the ap- 
proach of death was suspended by the tidings he 



1759.] DEATH OF WOLFE. 236 

had heard. He gave rapid directions that Webb's 
regiment should be marched to Charles' River to 
intercept the fugitives, and then exclaiming, 
"Now, God be praised! I die happy!" he fell 
back in the arms of his attendants, and expired. 

Monckton being dangerously wounded, the 
chief command fell upon Townsend. The pur- 
suit of the fugitives was stayed soon after,, and 
the troops recalled. This was scarcely effected 
before Bougainville, hastening to the assistance 
of Montcalm, made his appearance upon the field 
with a reinforcement of two thousand men ; but 
the victory was already won. After some sharp 
skirmishing, he secured the safety of his detach- 
ment by withdrawing into the neighbouring 
woods and swamps. 

The fate of Quebec was now no longer doubt- 
ful, for Montcalm, the only man whose genius 
might yet have saved it from capture, had also 
been Avounded mortally while attempting to rally 
a party of fugitives. Expressing himself thank- 
ful that he should not live to see the surrender 
of the city, he wrote the same evening to Town- 
send, recommending the French prisoners to his 
Immanity, and died early the foHowing morning. 
In this important battle the Frencli lost five 
hundred in killed and a thousand in wounded 
and prisoners. The loss of tlie Englisli amounted 
only to fifty men killed, thongli their wounded 
numbered upward of five hundred. 



236 HISTOKY OF NEW YORK. [1759. 

Preparations for besieging the city were im- 
mediately commenced by Townsend, but on the 
seventeenth of September, before any of the 
batteries were constructed, the garrison capitu- 
lated. With the fall of Quebec ended the French 
dominion over Canada. During the following 
spring, a daring attempt was made by De Levi 
to retake the city, which, for a time, promised 
to be successful ; but the opportune arrival of an 
English fleet finally frustrated the enterprise ; 
and Montreal being taken by Amherst early the 
ensuing September, the conquest of Canada was 
completed. 



17G0.] CANADA RETAINED. 237 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Retention of Canada determined upon — Spain joins France 
against England — Treaty of Fontaineblcau — Death of De- 
lancey — Administration of Golden — Monckton appointed 
governor — Ordered to Martinique — Independence of the Ju- 
diciary struck at — Alarm of New York — Difficulties between 
New York and New Hampshire — Financial embarrassment 
of England — Action of the ministry — Stamp-tax passed — Its 
reception in New York — Golden burned in effigy — Stamp- 
tax repealed — Townsend's scheme of taxation — Action of the 
colonies — Pusillanimous conduct of the New York Assembly 
— Alexander McDougal — His imprisonment and popularity — 
Rapid increase of New York in population and wealth — Dun- 
more appointed governor — Removed to Virginia — Transfers 
the government to Tryon — Regulators in North Carolina — 
Their defeat — Disturbances respecting the New Hampshire 
grants — Resistance to state authority — Tea sent to America 
— Proceedings of the colonies — Congress at Philadelphia — 
Battle of Lexington. 

The expulsion of the French forces from Ca- 
nada, and its occupation by the British, created 
a general joy throughout the provinces. The 
merits of Wolfe, Amherst, and their subordinate 
officers, were extolled in the highest terms. Con- 
gratulatory addresses poured in upon Pitt from 
all quarters. France, impoverished and humili- 
ated, desired peace at almost any sacrifice. In 
view of this event, the American colonies were 
unanimous in their desire to retain Canada as an 
English possession. Pitt, and most of tlie other 
members of the cabinet, entertained similar sen- 



238 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1762. 

timents ; and Choiseul, the French minister, bent 
upon putting an end to a war so inglorious for 
his country, was not disposed to insist upon its 
restoration. Pitt, however, while lending a fa- 
vourable ear to propositions for peace, stead- 
fastly persevered in his preparations for a con- 
tinuance of the war. Choiseul desired to retain 
a harbour in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 
freedom of the fisheries. These concessions Pitt 
refused, and, while negotiations were still pend- 
ing, sent out a powerful fleet, which captured 
Belle Isle. A third party now entered into the 
quarrel. 

Aggrieved by the establishment of English 
commercial posts in the Bays of Honduras and 
Campeachy, and conscious of being too weak to 
obtain redress single-handed, Spain, during the 
summer of 1761, entered into a secret treaty 
with France, under the title of the Family Com- 
pact; and, although differences in the English 
cabinet led at this juncture to the resignation of 
Pitt, war soon after broke out afresh. The Bri- 
tish forces proving everywhere victorious, nego- 
tiations were again proposed, and on the 3d of 
November, 1762, peace was finally ratified by 
the treaty of Fontainebleau. 

By the sudden death of Delancey, toward the 
close of July, 1760, the administration of the 
government of New York had devolved upon 
Cadwallader Colden, as president of the council. 



1762.] ATTEMPTS ON THE JUDICIARY. 239 

Appointed the following year lieutenant-governor, 
he was superseded in the chief magistracy soon 
after by General Monckton ; but the latter had 
scarcely presented his commission as governor, 
before he was ordered to take command of an 
expedition against Martinique, and Golden again 
assumed the reins of government. 

In the mean time, the Board of Trade, in pur- 
suance of their determination to attempt the re- 
storation of the royal prerogative in America, 
hjid struck at the independence of the colonial 
judiciary by making the tenure of the judicial 
commissions subject to the king's pleasure, in- 
stead of during good behaviour, as formerly. The 
office of chief-justice of New York having become 
vacant, the appointment of Pratt, a Boston lawyer, 
was made the first test of colonial obedience. 
The subordinate judges, whose commissions were 
supposed to have expired at the death of George 
II., having also reluctantly consented to continue 
to serve, subject to the same restriction, the as- 
sembly became alarmed at the dangerous charac- 
ter of the innovation, and resolved to resist it, 
])y refusing to grant the customary salaries. 
Equally determined to carry out the measures 
they had projected, the Board of Trade, in June, 
1762, recommended to the king that the salaries 
of tlic provincial judges should be paid out of the 
royal quit-rents. The advice was adopted, and 
the system of a judiciary wholly dependent upon 



240 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1767. 

the crown, as established in New York, was di- 
rected also to be applied to the other provinces. 

During this period of anxiety, serious difficul- 
ties had arisen between the governments of New 
York and New Hampshire, in respect to grants 
made by the latter of lands lying between the 
Connecticut River and Lake Champlain. Both 
provinces claimed this territory — since known as 
the state of Vermont — to be within the limits of 
their respective jurisdictions ; but a royal order, 
promulgated on the 17th of June, 1767, decided 
the dispute in favour of New York. Had the 
government of the latter province been content 
to exercise the authority thus conceded without 
interfering with the grants previously issued by 
New Hampshire, and for v/hich the settlers had 
already paid, the controversy would have ceased. 
But the greater portion of the territory in dis- 
pute being already covered by the New Hamp- 
shire grants, most of the sturdy pioneers refused 
to purchase their lands a second time, and or- 
ganized themselves into parties for the purpose 
of resisting the ejectments which the executive 
officers endeavoured to enforce. 

But a mightier quarrel was at this time begin- 
ning to engross the attention of the American 
people. The long-contemplated project of draw- 
ing a revenue from the colonies at length ap- 
proached maturity. The remarkable series of 
victories which had exalted the power of Eng- 



1705.] STAMP ACT PASSED. 241 

land, and secured to licr, by the treaty of Fon- 
tainebleau, a vast accession of territory, had, at 
the same time, by the enormous expenses of the 
war, plunged the nation into a condition of the 
most alarming financial embarrassment. As this 
distress arose in part from the heavy charges 
incurred in protecting the American colonies, 
the ministry sought to rid themselves of so great 
a burden for the future by attempting to draw a 
revenue from the provinces sufficient to defray 
the cost of their support and defence. By ob- 
taining this revenue through the action of parlia- 
ment, the power of the provincial assemblies 
would be so curbed and restricted as to be easily 
subordinated to the royal authority. Accord- 
ingly, in 1763, Grenville, the chancellor of the 
exchequer, notified parliament, in addition to 
minor measures devised for the same purpose, 
of his intention to bring forward a bill by which 
all bonds, deeds, notes, and various other neces- 
sary business papers used in America, should 
recjuire to be drawn upon stamped paper, to be 
issued by the British government, and sold only 
by agents duly authorized. 

At the ensuing session of 17G4 parliament 
formally avowed the right to tax the colonies; 
and in March, 17G5, the Stamp Act passed both 
liouscs with but little opposition. In addition to 
tliis, an act called tlie Quartering Act was passed, 
by which the ministry were authorized to keep 
21 



242 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1765. 

up a standing army in America, the respective 
colonies being required to furnish quarters for 
the troops, together with firewood, soap, bed- 
ding, drink, and candles. No sooner did the 
passage of these acts become known to Virginia 
and Massachusetts, than, impressed with their 
dangerous character, they took the lead in oppo- 
sition. The other provinces speedily followed 
their example. Committees of correspondence 
were formed, and a call for a colonial congress 
was responded to by a convention of delegates 
at New York during the month of October. The 
session continued for three weeks. A declara- 
tion of rights was agreed to ; a petition to the 
king, and a memorial to both houses of parlia- 
ment, all of them able and eloquent papers, were 
drawn up and signed by a large majority of the 
members. The principle of taxation without re- 
presentation was indignantly repudiated, and 
everywhere combinations were formed to resist 
the introduction of the stamped paper. 

In New York the denunciation of the stamp- 
tax was both fierce and vehement. Copies of the 
act were publicly hawked about the streets, un- 
der the title of " The folly of England and ruin 
of America;" and the excitement finally rose to 
so high a pitch, that the stamp distributor re- 
signed his appointment, and when the stamps 
arrived, toward the close of October, refused to 
have any thing to do with them. Colden being 



1765.] ^^SONS OF LIBERTY." 243 

thus in a measure compelled to assume cliarge 
of the obnoxious papers, they were by his orders 
conveyed into the fort for safe keeping. 

On the evening of the 1st of November, the 
day appointed for the Stamp Act to go into ope- 
ration, a party of citizens, many of whom had 
organized themselves under the name of « Sons 
of Liberty," broke open the stable of Golden, ad- 
joining the fort walls, and seizing his carriage, 
marched with it in procession through the prin- 
cipal streets, until they reached the common. 
After hanging Golden in effigy, they returned 
with great parade to the Bowling-green, where, 
under the muzzles of the fort guns, they burned 
the carriage and e^gj together. The excite- 
ment continuing for several days, Golden became 
alarmed, and finally agreed to surrender the 
stamps to the city authorities. In the midst of 
these disturbances Sir Henry Moore arrived, and 
took upon himself the functions of governor. 

Up to this time, most of the wealthier inhabit- 
ants had not openly taken part in the quarrel ; 
but emboldened by the success which liad at- 
tended the efforts of their sturdier fellow-citi- 
zens, many of them now publicly joined the 
ranks of the disaffected. On the Gth of Novem- 
ber they held a meeting, which resulted in the 
formation of a committee to correspond with the 
other provinces, and an agreement to import no 



244 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1766. 

more goods from Great Britain until their griev- 
ances were redressed. 

Opposition to the Stamp Act being universal 
throughout America, and a change having 
already taken place in the British ministry, 
great hopes were entertained that the tax would 
be repealed at the ensuing session of parliament. 
Nor were those hopes fallacious. Pitt rose in 
his place, and denied the right of parliament "to 
levy a tax on the colonies ;" and although Gren- 
ville strove to defend the bill, and charged the 
Americans with being in open rebellion, on the 
19th of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was an- 
nulled. 

But the gratification which was felt through- 
out America at this result was only of brief du- 
ration. Basing their repeal of the obnoxious 
act upon the ground of expediency rather than 
of justice, parliament reasserted their right to 
tax the colonies ; and, in accordance with this 
assertion, Charles Townsend, the new chancellor 
of the exchequer, on the plea of regulating trade, 
brought forward a bill imposing duties on tea, 
paints, paper, glass, and lead. About the same 
time, an act was also passed to compel the as- 
sembly of New York to comply with the provi- 
sions of the Quartering Act, and forbidding them, 
in the mean time, to legislate for any other 
purpose. 

The determination evinced by parliament to 



1769.] DUTIES REPEALED. 245 

raise a revenue without the concurrence of the 
colonial assemblies was opposed at once by the 
latter. Committees of correspondence again be- 
came active, and resolutions were very generally 
adopted not to import any goods from Great 
Britain but such as the wants of the people ren- 
dered absolutely necessary. The assembly of 
New York declining to make provision for the 
troops, that body was twice dissolved; but, sup- 
ported in opposition by the popular voice, ex- 
hibited no inclination to submit to ministerial 
dictation. 

Townsend's insidious scheme of taxation, 
though adopted under the pretence of regulating 
commerce, soon proved as complete a failure as 
the Stamp Act by which it was preceded. Oppo- 
sition throughout the colonies growing more in- 
tense and vehement, the English ministry, be- 
coming alarmed at the storm they had evoked, 
addressed, in 1769, a letter to the colonies, pro- 
mising a repeal of all the duties imposed under 
Townsend's act, with the exception of that upon 
upon tea, — a promise which was carried into effect 
the following year. 

At this period, distressed by the increasing 
differences concerning the New Hampshire 
grants, and rendered uneasy by the dissolution 
of two successive assemblies, and by the rapid 
growth of republican sentiments, many of the 
wealthier inhabitants of New York sought to re- 

21* 



246 HISTOBY OF NEW YORK. [1770. 

trace tlieir steps and confirm their loyalty by 
the election of members to a new assembly whose 
political sentiments should partake of a more 
conservative character. In this effort they suc- 
ceeded after a sharp contest ; and under the in- 
fluence of a triumphant majority the moderate 
party, as they were styled, consented to accept 
the conditions of the Quartering Act, and made 
provision for the troops. 

Outraged by this pusillanimous course of con- 
duct, Alexander McDougal, a prominent leader 
of the Sons of Liberty, called a public meeting 
of the citizens, denouncing the acts of the assem- 
bly as a betrayal of the trust reposed in them. 
So bold an address roused the indignation of the 
assembly, who declared it false and seditious, and 
ordered the imprisonment of McDougal. This 
rigorous exercise of power did but inflame the 
more the ardour of the patriotic party. McDou- 
gal was extolled as a martyr to the cause of 
liberty ; while the soldiery, who undertook to 
become the champions of the assembly, were 
not unfrequently brought into collision with the 
populace. 

Notwithstanding this untoward condition of 
things, the province of New York increased in 
population and wealth with almost unexampled 
rapidity. In the year 1770 it contained more 
than one hundred and sixty thousand inhabitants, 
many of whom were sturdy pioneers, who, push- 



1770.] TRYON MADE GOVERNOR. 247 

ing out into the forest, cleared settlements along 
the borders of the Mohawk, AVood Creek, and 
the head of Lake Champlain. 

After exercising the gubernatorial authority 
for four years. Sir Henry Moore died, and Col- 
den, now extremely old, again assumed the ad- 
ministration of the government. The following 
year, 1770, he was superseded by Lord Dunmore ; 
but the latter, after exercising the office for a 
few months, was commissioned as governor of 
Virginia, transferring the chief authority in New 
York to AVilliam Tryon, who, as governor of 
North Carolina, had distinguished himself by 
the energy with which he had put down the 
Regulators — men who had banded themselves 
together, in the first instance, to resist the exac- 
tion of oppressive fees and the payment of taxes 
but too frequently appropriated to the personal 
use of the authorized collectors. Growing bolder 
with increase of numbers, these Regulators began 
to indulge in excesses which justly rendered them 
amenable to the laws of the province. Discoun- 
tenanced by the assembly, and persevering in the 
commission of various outrages, Tryon placed 
himself at the head of a body of militia from the 
lower counties, and marched n gainst them. The 
Regulators at once assemljled in force, and gave 
battle to Tryon at Alamance, near tlie head 
waters of Cape Fear River. After a sliarp con- 
test, they were signally defeated, leaving some 



248 HISTORY OF NEW YOKE. [1774. 

two hundred of their number dead upon the 
field. 

Removed to New York, Tryon was soon called 
upon to exercise his abilities in a more difficult 
field of action. The conduct of the settlers hold- 
ing lands under the disputed grants from New 
Hampshire had become, year by year, more firm 
and decided, while that of the New York officials 
was equally pertinacious. The lands of many 
who refused to take out new patents were sold 
over their heads, and the sheriffs received orders 
to place the new purchasers in possession. 
Armed combinations were immediately formed, 
headed by men of great energy and determina- 
tion of character ; one of the principal leaders 
being Ethan Allen, soon to be favourably known 
through his intrepid seizure of Ticonderoga. 

All negotiations proving ineffectual, and the 
controversy threatening to break out into civil 
war, the assembly, at the session of 1774, passed 
an act declaring armed resistance to the go- 
vernment a capital offence. At the same time, 
Tryon offered a reward for the apprehension of 
Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and some six other 
prominent offenders. But neither legislation nor 
proclamation availed to subdue the spirit of the 
mountaineers. Repudiating the title of rioters, 
they yet resolved, in general convention, to resist 
by force of arms all attempts at ejectment which 
might be made under the orders of the authori- 



1774.] CARGOES OF TEA REJECTED. 249 

ties ; while the leaders, for whose arrest a reward 
had been offered, publicly proclaimed their de- 
termination to kill any person or persons who 
should attempt to take them prisoners. 

But the long -pending controversy between 
Great Britain and the American colonies, by di- 
recting public attention to evils of greater mag- 
nitude, was soon to put an end to all civil dissen- 
sions. Firmly resolved to resist taxation in any 
shape, except such as emanated from the action 
of their own representatives, the people of 
America very generally agreed to abandon the 
use of tea, so long as it came to them burdened 
with a duty ; and although that duty was merely 
nominal, they declined, for the most part, to pur- 
chase it, as involving in an insidious form the prin- 
ciple against which they had so long contended. 
The British government, with a view of carrying 
their point, having offered a drawback equal to 
the amount of duty, the East India Company, 
believing that the point at issue would now be 
abandoned, instantly despatched large shipments 
of tea to the various colonial ports. But the un- 
yielding temper of the Americans was not so to 
be conciliated. In some of the ports they per- 
mitted the tea to be landed and stored. In 
others, the ships were compelled to return to 
England without being allowed to discharge their 
cargoes. At Boston the vessels were boarded by 
a party disguised as Indians, and the tea thrown 



250 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [17T5. 

overboard. At Annapolis, the people assem- 
bled in open day, and compelled the owner to 
set fire to the ship containing the obnoxious 
article. In New York, the tea-ship was ordered 
to anchor off Sandy Hook, and finally forced to 
return home. A private adventure belonging 
to the captain of another ship was treated less 
ceremoniously ; the chests, fourteen in number, 
were seized and thrown into the river. 

These daring proceedings no sooner became 
known to the ministry, than a bill was passed 
shutting up the port of Boston, and removing 
the seat of government to Salem. The tidings 
speedily reached America. Public meetings 
were called at various points, at which it was 
recommended that delegates from the several 
provinces should assemble at a stated time and 
place, and take upon themselves the duties of a 
Continental Congress. These recommendations 
met with an almost unanimous response. On the 
1st of September, 1774, delegates from twelve 
provinces met at Philadelphia, and after many 
long and grave debates, drew up a declaration of 
colonial rights, a petition to the king, a memo- 
rial to the inhabitants of British America, and 
an address to the people of Canada. 

In the mean time, the first serious prelude to 
the Revolution was rapidly approaching. On the 
19th of April, 1775, and while the congress was 
still in session, tidings were received that Gene- 



1775.] EATTLE OF LEXIXGTON. 251 

ral Gage, the governor of Massachusetts, having 
learned that a quantity of military stores were 
deposited at Concord, had sent out a strong force 
from Boston to seize and destroy them. At Lex- 
ington this detachment, consisting of eight hun- 
dred men, fell in with a small party of militia, 
which were fired upon and routed, with the loss 
of eight killed and several wounded. The regu- 
lars then marched to Concord, and destroyed 
such stores as were found there. The alarm 
speedily spreading, numbers of minute men came 
pouring into the village, and a smart skirmish 
ensued, during which several of the regulars were 
killed. Finding themselves hard pressed, the 
troops, greatly harassed by the way, retreated 
rapidly to Lexington. At the latter place they 
were reinforced by Lord Percy, who, with nine 
hundred men, and two pieces of cannon, had 
been sent by Gage to their relief. Falling back 
in good order, though closely pressed by the ex- 
asperated provincials, they succeeded in reaching 
Charlcstown about sunset in the evening, having 
lost in killed and wounded two hundred and 
seventy-three men. The loss of the provincials 
amounted to eighty-eight. The exhausted regu- 
lars, after encamping on Bunker Hill for the 
night, crossed over to Boston the following day. 



252 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1775. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Effect of the battle of Lexington — Doubtful position of New 
Yorlt — Ticonderoga and Crown Point seized — Descent of 
Arnold upon St. John's — War formally declared — Acts of the 
Provincial Congress — Opposition of the loyalists — Washing- 
ton appointed commander-in-chief of the American forces — 
Other appointments — Battle of Bunker Hill — Congress de- 
termines upon an effectual blockade of Boston — 'Washington 
assumes the chief command — Return of Governor Tryon to> 
New York — State of political parties — Seizure of military 
stores at Turtle Bay — Removal of guns from the Battery at 
New York — Unpopularity of Tryon — He takes refuge on 
board the Asia man-of-war — Invasion of Canada — Surrender 
of Forts Chambly and St. John — Capitulation of Montreal 
— Montgomery forms a junction with Arnold — Assault of 
Quebec — Death of Montgomery — Evacuation of Canada — 
Disturbances in New York — Rivington's Gazette — Lee 
ordered to assist in defending the city — Disaffection of the 
Johnsons — -Joseph Brant — Declaration of Independence. 

The battle of Lexington was tlie unsheatliing 
of the sword. War, though not formally pro- 
claimed, was recognised to have commenced in 
earnest. Within twenty days expresses had car- 
ried tidings of the affray to every important point 
in all the colonies between Massachusetts and 
South Carolina. A^olunteers soon encompassed 
Boston to the number of twenty thousand men. 
The committee of correspondence at New York, 
notwithstanding the Tory predilections of a con- 
siderable portion of the inhabitants, adopted a 
plan of association for the defence of colonial 



1775.] TICOXDEROGA SEIZED. 253 

rights, and issued an address to the county com- 
mittees recommending the appointment of dele- 
gates to a provincial congress. These measures 
were not carried without meeting with consider- 
able opposition, and party differences at length 
grew to such a height, that it was thought expe- 
dient to send a body of Connecticut troops to 
within marching distance of the city, in order to 
awe the loyalists into submission. 

On the 10th of May, the fortress of Ticonde- 
roga was surprised by Ethan Allen at the head 
of a party of Green Mountain boys, the British 
commander having been summoned to surrender 
" in the name of Jehovah and the Continental 
Congress." In this expedition Benedict Arnold 
took part as a volunteer. A detachment led by 
Sctli "Warner took undisputed possession of 
Crown Point the same day. Two hundred pieces 
of cannon, together with a large amount of am- 
munition and military stores, fell into the hands 
of the Americans. Being joined soon after by 
some fifty volunteers, who had already signalized 
themselves by the capture of Skenesborough, and 
the seizure of a schooner at that place, Arnold 
descended Lake Champlain, surprised the post at 
St. John's, boarded and carried an armed sloop, 
and witli his prizes, laden with valuable stores, 
returned in triumph to Crown Point. 

On the 26th of May, Congress formally re- 
solved that war had been commenced, although 

22 



254 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1775. 

the idea of a declaration of independence was not 
at this period very generally entertained. Four 
days previous to this, the provincial congress 
which met at New York adopted resolutions for 
raising four regiments of militia, and for erect- 
ing fortifications. They also agreed to furnish 
supplies to the Connecticut regiment under Hin- 
man, which was already in garrison at Ticonde- 
roga. These measures were not carried without 
embarrassment, for the royalist party through- 
out the province, tenaciously averse to severing 
all connection with Great Britain, succeeded in 
carrying, in spite of warm opposition, a plan for 
conciliation. 

On the 15th of June, the Continental Congress 
appointed George Washington commander-in- 
chief of the American forces. Ward and Put- 
nam, already engaged in active service before 
Boston, with Schuyler of New York, and Charles 
Lee, lately a lieutenant-colonel in the British 
service, were commissioned as major-generals. 
Horatio Gates, also formerly a captain in the 
British service, was chosen adjutant-general, with 
the rank of brigadier. Sullivan of New Hamp- 
shire, and Montgomery, an Irish officer who had 
served under Wolfe before Louisburg and Que- 
bec, were, with Pomeroy, Heath, Wooster, Spen- 
cer, and Green, appointed brigadiers. 

While many of the preceding nominations were 
still pending, and two days only subsequent to 



1775.] STATE OF PARTIES. 255 

the appointment of Colonel Washington as com- 
mander-in-chief, occurred the battle of Bunker 
Hill. 

Stimulated to more vigorous action by tidings 
of so momentous a character, Congress imme- 
diately determined upon a complete investment 
of Boston, the British garrison at that place 
having been lately increased, by reinforcements 
under Clinton, Howe, and Burgoyne, to the 
number of ten thousand men. Washington at 
once departed to assume the command, and 
within Uvo weeks took up his head-quarters at 
Cambridge. 

At this juncture, Governor Tryon, who had 
been absent on a visit to England, returned to 
New York ; and so nicely balanced were the two 
political parties by which the province was agi- 
tated, that public opinion would preponderate 
one day in favour of the Whigs, and the next 
would aid in the triumph of the Tories ; for by 
these names the patriots and the loyalists were 
now beginning to be known. Even in the pro- 
vincial congress, the Whig majority was small 
and fluctuating, though it was not long before it 
acquired both strength and permanence. The 
popularity which Tryon had previously acquired 
with a certain class of citizens soon began to 
disappear before the progressive marcli of* 
events. On the very day that the city authori- 
ties welcomed the return of the governor by a 



256 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1775. 

complimentary address, the military stores de- 
posited at Tm'tle Bay were seized and carried 
off by the provincials. More daring acts soon 
followed. 

On the night of the 22d of August, Captain 
Sears, assisted by a body of resolute men, un- 
dertook, by desire of the provincial congress, 
the desperate enterprise of removing the guns 
from the Battery, in the face of the Asia man- 
of-war, then lying in the harbour. A boat which 
had been sent out from the latter to watch the 
motions of the patriots, having been inadver- 
tently fired upon by some of the party under 
Sears, the Asia commenced firing with grape- 
shot, by which three men were killed and seve- 
ral wounded. Notwithstanding this serious 
check, Sears determined to persevere. Drawing, 
by an ingenious stratagem, the fire of the Asia 
upon a point at a distance from his working 
party, he finally succeeded, without any further 
loss, in carrying off twenty-one pieces of artillery. 

During this exciting period, Tryon was exert- 
ing himself to sustain the people of Long and 
Staten Islands in their refusal to sign the arti- 
cles of association. Other acts of a similar cha- 
racter rendering'his further residence in the city 
dangerous to his personal safety, he prudent- 
ly concluded to abandon his government, and 
toward the close of September took refuge on 
board the Asia. 



1775.] CANADA INVADED. 257 

In the mean ■s\hile, Washington was engaged 
in blockading Boston. The Continental Con- 
gress having determined to invade Canada, U\o 
thousand men were directed to be raised for the 
expedition, the command of which was given to 
Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. On the 
4th of September the latter descended Lake 
Champlain, and having formed a junction with 
Schuyler at Isle la Motte, the flotilla, contain- 
ing above a thousand men, moved upon St. John's ; 
but finding that place strongly garrisoned and 
fortified, it was resolved to return to Isle au 
Noix, and wait for artillery and reinforcements. 
The latter arriving soon, and Schuyler having 
returned to Albany, Montgomery again press- 
ed forward to St. John's. While besieging it. 
Fort Chambly, lower down the Sorel River, was 
taken by Majors Brown and Livingston ; and on 
the 3d of November the garrison at St. John's, 
consisting of seven hundred men, surrendered 
themselves prisoners of war. Montreal capitu- 
lating soon after, Montgomery pushed his ad- 
vantage, and descended the St. Lawrence to 
Quebec. Forming a junction at Point au 
Trembles with Arnold, who had been despatched 
by Washington to co-operate with Montgomery, 
the united forces, thinned by discharges, deser- 
tions, and detachments to about one thousand 
men, descended the river, and on the 5th of De- 
cember appeared before Quebec. Desperate as 
22* 



258 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1775- 

the attempt to carry the place by assault ap- 
peared, it was resolved upon. The army was 
divided into four corps, two of vfhich were to 
make feigned attacks upon the upper town, while 
Montgomery and Arnold, from opposite sides, 
assaulted the lower. 

On the morning of the 31st of December, 
1775, and in the midst of a driving snow-storm, 
the columns advanced. Montgomery, at the 
head of the New York troops, marched by the 
bank of the river until within a short distance of 
the first battery on the south side of the town. 
As he approached, the enemy at first fled panic- 
stricken ; but taking courage at witnessing the 
obstacles which the heavy masses of snow inter- 
posed to the progress of the assailants, a single 
artilleryman returned to his post, and fired a 
cannon charged with grape-shot when the Ame- 
ricans were within forty paces. Montgomery 
and his aids. Captains Cheeseman and Macpher- 
son, were instantly killed. Discouraged by their 
loss, the division precipitately fell back, and 
made no further attempt to enter the town on 
that side. On the north, however, Arnold pressed 
forward by way of St. Roques, his advance being 
closely supported by a body of riflemen under 
Captain Daniel Morgan ; but the obstructions 
occasioned by the great depth of the snow gave 
the enemy an advantage of which they were 
prompt to seize. Arnold fell, with his leg shat- 



1776.] CANADA EVACUATED. 259 

tercd by a musket ball ; but the battery by Avliich 
the barrier was defended was impetuously carried 
by Morgan at the head of his riflemen. The dawn 
of day too plainly discovered that the force by 
which he was sustained was wholly inefficient to 
maintain his conquest. A gallant attempt upon 
a second barrier resulted in complete discom- 
fiture. Frozen with cold, many of their arms 
rendered useless by the snow, surrounded by the 
enemy in constantly increasing numbers, and 
all the avenues of retreat cut off, Morgan and 
his brave followers at length reluctantly con- 
sented to surrender. 

Drawing around him the remainder of his 
troops, Arnold retired three miles up the river. 
Sheltering his men for the winter behind breast- 
works of frozen snow, he kept Quebec in a state 
of blockade. On the 1st of May, 177G, rein- 
forcements, under General Thomas, increased 
the invading army to nine hundred men ; but 
one-half of these being rendered ineffective ])y 
the prevalence of the small-pox, and the British 
garrison having, in the mean time, been strength- 
ened by the arrival of additional troops, it was 
found advisable to evacuate Canada, a movement 
which, after a series of disasters, was finally ac- 
complished on the 17th of June. 

In the midst of these northern operations, the 
city of NcAV York was thrown into a state of tu- 
mult in consequence of the obnoxious course of 



260 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

the editor of Kivington's Gazette, a paper sup- 
ported bj the influence of the Tory population, 
and by the patronage of Tryon, who, from on 
board the Asia, still kept up a constant communi- 
cation with his adherents on shore. The publisher 
having been warned, without effect, to moderate 
the heat of his partisan zeal. Captain Sears, at 
the instigation of the Sons of Liberty, fearing to 
trust the local militia, mustered in Connecticut a 
party of light-horse, and entering New York in 
open day on the 25th of November, broke into 
Rivington's office, demolished his press, and car- 
ried off the types. 

The intrigues of Governor Tryon, and the ac- 
tivity of the loyalists, rendering the fidelity of 
New York to the patriot cause a matter of con- 
siderable doubt, \Yashington ordered Lee to take 
command of a body of Connecticut volunteers to 
assist in the defence of the city, and to aid in re- 
straining the factious spirit of those who still 
obstinately supported the pretensions of Great 
Britain. 

These adherents were, however, too numerous, 
both within the city and throughout the province, 
to suffer more than a temporary check. Sir John 
Johnson, son to the conqueror of Dieskau, and 
Guy Johnson, the Indian agent, both living in 
the vicinity of the Mohawk, had contrived to 
keep the Highlanders, who were settled around 
them, for the most part favourable to the royal 



1776.] DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 261 

cause, until Schuyler, in command on the fron- 
tier, sent a detachment to disarm them, and took 
hostages to insure their future submission. Guy 
Johnson fled into Canada, whither Sir John soon 
followed him. The latter, accepting a commis- 
sion as colonel in the British service, succeeded 
in raising from among his tenants and elsewhere 
two battalions of " Royal Greens." Joseph 
Brant, the half-breed, served under Guy John- 
son for a brief season as his secretary, but sub- 
sequently engaged in those more active and ter- 
rible operations which have rendered his name 
so painfully celebrated. 

Though the British troops in garrison at Bos- 
ton still remained in a state of blockade, the 
Tory population of tlie provinces was far from 
inactive. Several skirmishes of a serious cha- 
racter had taken place ; and as the British 
ministry evinced a disposition to crush all op- 
position by force of arms, the period for recon- 
ciliation was generally acknowledged to have 
passed away. On the 4th of July, 1776, the 
Continental Congress, assembled at rhihidel- 
pliia, resolved upon a Declaration of Independ- 
ence. On this occasion the delegates from New 
York declined to vote ; but the provincial con- 
gress, which assembled at Wliite Plains on the 
9th of the same month, sanctioned the declara- 
tion, and ordered it to be engrossed and signed. 

In the city of New York the proclamation of 



262 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

independence was received by the patriots with 
the liveliest demonstrations of satisfaction. Not 
content with testifying their joy by shouts and 
acclamations, they destroyed a picture of the 
king which hung in the City Hall. Proceeding 
thence to the Bowling-green, they threw down 
his equestrian statue, and subsequently con- 
verted the lead of which it was composed into 
bullets for the use of the continental army. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Evacuation of Boston — Washington at New York — His em- 
barrassments — Discovery of a plot to seize his person — Ap- 
proach of General Howe — The British encamp on Staten 
Island — Arrival of Admiral Lord Howe with reinforcements 
— American defences at Brooklyn — Landing of the British 
on Long Island — Battle of Long Island, and defeat of Put- 
nam — Washington encamps at Harlem — Howe takes pos- 
session of Y^ork Island — Disgraceful flight of the American 
mihtia — New York evacuated — Skirmish at Harlem — Seri- 
ous conflagration in the city — Military and naval operations 
of the British — The Americans encamp at White Plains — 
Defeat of McDougal — Capture of Fort Washington — Aban- 
donment of Fort Lee — Retreat of Washington through the 
Jerseys — Crosses the Delaware at Trenton — Situation of the 
Northern army — Crown Point evacuated — Advance of 
Carleton — Battle on Lake Champlain. 

On the 27th of March, 1776, General Howe, 
with seven thousand British troops, evacuated 
Boston, and retired to Halifax. Confidently ex- 
pecting that the next movement of the British 
general would be directed upon New York, Wash- 



1T7G.] APrROACii OF general HOWE. 2G3 

ington hastened to the latter city -with tlie main 
body of his army, leaving five regiments under 
General "Ward to garrison Boston. The earliest 
attention of the commander-in-chief was directed 
toward putting the city of New York in as good 
a condition of defence as his limited means would 
admit ; but he soon found his ojoerations greatly 
embarrassed by the activity of the loyalists, 
whom no prohibition could restrain from keep- 
ing up a correspondence with the enemy. Even 
the mayor of the city proved faithless to the 
cause of liberty. A plot was also discovered 
for seizing the person of Washington, and con- 
veying him a prisoner on board one of the Bri- 
tish ships. The principal conspirator was tried 
by court-martial, and ordered to be shot. 

Having conceived the design of separating the 
northern from the southern states by the occu- 
pation of New York, General Howe, reinforced 
by the troops previously stationed at Halifax, 
set sail from that port, and on the 28th of June 
landed on Staten Island. In the early part of 
July he was joined by his brother, Admiral Lord 
Howe, with a fleet of one hundred and fifty sail, 
and twenty thousand additional troops. This 
overwhelming force was not without its cfTect, 
especially upon the people of Long Island, many 
of whom were already favourable to the royal 
cause. A considerable number of inhabitants 
immediately took the oaths of allegiance, while 



264 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

a portion of them organized themselves into a 
militia corps, the command of which was ac- 
cepted by Tryon. 

In anticipation of this emergency, Congress 
had already called upon the middle and northern 
states for reinforcements to the number of twen- 
ty-four thousand men. But it was the middle of 
August before the entire force under Washing- 
ton's immediate command reached twenty thou- 
sand men, more than one-third of whom were 
raw levies, for the most part badly equipped and 
worse disciplined. To oppose these, the camp 
of General Howe on Staten Island contained 
twenty-four thousand British troops and German 
mercenaries, perfect in their drill and admirably 
appointed. 

Having been commissioned to offer a free par- 
don to all persons who, within a specified time, 
would come forward and take the oath of alle- 
giance to Great Britain, General Howe, in con- 
nection with the admiral his brother, delayed the 
prosecution of further hostilities until the effect 
of the proclamation should be ascertained. 
Finding the patriots firmly resolved to maintain 
the principles they had espoused, active opera- 
tions were determined on. 

To check the approach of Howe upon the city 
by way of Long Island, the Americans had 
thrown up intrenchments at Brooklyn, a point of 
land opposite Nevv' York, but separated from it 



1776.] LANDING ON LONG ISLAND. 265 

by -what is known as the East River, an arm of 
the sea three-fourths of a mile wide. Behind 
these intrenchments nine thousand men were 
encamped. The command of this strong de- 
tachment had been intrusted to General Greene, 
under whose directions the works had been con 
structed, and to whom the approaches were fami- 
liar ; but the latter being taken seriously ill, his 
command was transferred to General Putnam, 
who, though an able and energetic officer, was 
but little acquainted with the topography of the 
surrounding country. 

On the morning of the 22d of August, General 
Howe embarked fifteen thousand troops, in sepa- 
rate divisions, on board of galleys and flat-boats 
previously prepared for that service. Quitting 
his camp at Staten Island, he succeeded in land- 
ing, without opposition, on the beach near Utrecht, 
in King's county, Long Island, and about eight 
miles south of the city of New York. On the 
25th his force was still further augmented by the 
addition of two brigades of Hessians under Gene- 
ral De Ileister. Between the American works 
at Brooklyn and the British position at Flatbush 
extended a long range of thickly-wooded hills, 
pierced by several passes ; and upon the degree 
of vigilance with which these passes were guard- 
ed mainly depended the security of the American 
camp. 

Having at length arranged his plan of opera- 

23 



266 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

tions, the British general ordered De Heister, on 
the night of the 26th, to take the road -which led 
from Flatbush across the hills in front of the 
lines at Brooklyn ; while a similar column, under 
Grant, marched round the western base of the 
hills by the river road, and approached the Ame- 
ricans on their right. The object of these move- 
ments was to draw the attention of Putnam from 
the advance of the main body of the British 
under Clinton, which, at the same time, was 
skirting the foot of the hills by an easterly 
route, with a view of turning the American left. 
Palling into the snare thus artfully laid, Putnam 
threw forward a strong corps under Sterling to 
guard the river road, while Sullivan hastened to 
dispute the passage of De Heister over the hills. 
The approach of Clinton with the main body was 
thus effectually masked by the movements of the 
other columns ; and it was not until Sullivan 
found himself exposed to a galling fire in front 
and rear, that the stratagem of the British com- 
mander was detected. After several ineffectual 
attempts to force their way through the masses 
of the enemy, the troops under Sullivan broke 
into detached parties, and took refuge among 
the hills ; but the greater portion of them, toge- 
ther with Sullivan himself, were eventually taken 
prisoners. 

The progress of Grant by the river road met 
with far more vigorous opposition from Sterling. 



1776.] GALLANTRY OF STERLING. 267 

Strengthened about daybreak by his advanced 
guard, Avhich the British had driven in, Sterling 
posted his troops along the summit of the hills, 
and, as the enemy approached, commenced a 
severe cannonade, which was continued on both 
sides for several hours. Although repeatedly 
attacked by the brigades under Cornwallis and 
Grant, the Americans at this point gallantly 
held their ground until De Ileister had routed 
Sullivan, and their rear was threatened by Clin- 
ton. Ilis position becoming momentarily more 
dangerous. Sterling at length reluctantly ordered 
a retreat. Closely pressed by the enemy in front, 
and having in his rear a marsh intersected by a 
deep creek, this movement was rendered ex- 
tremely perilous, from the bridge which spanned 
the latter having been burned in a panic by a 
brigade from New England. The choice of two 
courses alone remained. One was, to surrender 
to the enemy ; the other, to risk an escape by 
attempting to cross the creek and marsh, which 
Avere eighty yards in width and of unknown 
deptli. Sterling gallantly resolved upon the 
latter. Selecting four hundred men from the 
Maryland battalion to cover the retreat of the 
rest, he placed liimsclf at tlio head of this small 
force, and in full sight from the American lines 
charged, with fixed bayonets, the brigade com- 
manded by Cornwallis. Washington, who had 
hastened across the river from New York, was a 



268 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

"witness to this display of heroic bravery. Wring- 
ing his hands in anguish, he bitterly deplored 
the fate of men who were so nobly sacrificing 
themselves to the safety of their companions. 
Four times the desperate charge was repeated. 
On the fifth, the British began to show signs of 
disorder ; but at this juncture De Heister with 
his Hessians commenced an assault in the rear. 
Reduced in numbers and weakened by their ex- 
ertions, a portion of the detachment, following 
the example of Sterling, surrendered themselves 
prisoners of war. The remaining three compa- 
nies, having resolutely determined not to yield, 
cut their way through the ranks of the enemy, 
and endeavoured to cross the creek. A few of 
them were successful in making good their es- 
cape, but the greater part perished in the 
attempt. 

The loss of the Americans in this disastrous 
battle has been variously estimated. Their 
killed and wounded could not have fallen short 
of four hundred. The British commander ac- 
knowledged, on his part, to a loss of three hun- 
dred ; but upward of a thousand American pri- 
soners remained in his hands. 

The victorious forces, cautiously advancing, 
encamped in front of the American lines, and 
made preparations for investing them in form. 
In the mean time, the troops within the intrench- 
ments had been reinforced from New York ; but 



1776.] DEATH OF GEX. WOODHULL. 269 

'Washlno'ton, after lioldino; a council of war with 
his officers, determined upon withdrawing tlicm 
from a situation so precarious. A retreat across 
the river, conducted with great silence and se- 
crecy, was accordingly effected on the night of 
August the 20th, in the midst of a thick fog, 
and without the loss of a single man. The cap- 
ture of General Woodhull, late president of the 
provincial congress, which occurred the day after 
the battle, was another severe blow to the Ame- 
rican cause. He died soon afterward, from the 
gross neglect of his captors to dress the wounds 
they had inflicted upon him subsequent to his 
surrender. 

The victory on Long Island exposing New 
York to an attack from the enemy, "Washington, 
leaving a strong force in the city, retired with 
the main body to the heights of Ilarlem, making, 
at the same time, the necessary arrangements for 
facilitating his further retreat. 

The British military and naval commanders, 
entertaining a hope that the recent victory would 
produce an effect upon Congress favourable to 
their wishes, again sought to open negotiations 
fur an amicable adjustment of the dispute be- 
tween the confederated states and tlie mother 
country ; but Congress firmly refused to listen 
to any })roposals of peace which did not recog- 
nise the colonies as independent states. 

An assault upon New York was immediately 

23* 



270 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

determined upon. Supported by tlie ships of 
the fleet, which had forced a passage up the 
Hudson and East rivers, Howe landed on York 
Island, about three miles above the cit}^ The 
guard stationed there to oppose his debarkation 
fled without firing a gun ; and two brigades of 
Connecticut militia sent to their support, being 
seized with a similar panic, disgracefully fol- 
lowed their example. Washington, with Putnam 
and Mifflin, vainly endeavoured to put a stop to 
this shameful flight. " Are these the men with 
whom I am to defend America?" exclaimed 
Washington. Indignantly dashing his hat upon 
the ground, he sufl'ered his attendants to hurry 
him from the field. Orders were at once sent to 
the troops yet remaining in the city to evacuate 
it without delay. Under cover of Smallwood's 
Maryland regiment, almost the only one upon 
which any great reliance could be placed, the 
retreat, though rapid and disorderly, was at 
length effected; but not before three hundred 
men had been left in the hands of the enemy. 
Having thus easily obtained almost undisputed 
possession of the island, Howe directed a strong 
detachment to take possession of the city, and 
with the remainder of his forces encamped in the 
vicinity of the American lines. 

The next day a skirmish took place, which 
revived to a considerable degree the drooping 
courage of the continental troops. A body of 



1776.] CALAMITOUS FIRE. 271 

the enemy, three hundred strong, appearing in 
the plains between the two camps, AVashington 
directed Colonel Knowlton, with a corps of New 
England rangers, and Major Leitch, with three 
companies of an untried Virginia regiment, to 
get into their rear, while he engaged the atten- 
tion of the enemy by making preparations to 
assault them in front. The stratagem was suc- 
cessful ; and although Colonel Knowlton was 
shot dead early in the action, and Major Leitch 
received a mortal wound, the companies main- 
tained their ground. The British receiving a 
reinforcement of seven hundred men ; two regi- 
ments of the Maryland flying camp and three 
independent companies from the same State were 
ordered to the support of the American skir- 
mishers. Boldly attacking the enemy with the 
bayonet, they succeeded in putting them to 
flight, and were in hot pursuit, when Washing- 
ton, having made the impression he desired, or- 
dered them to be recalled. In this spirited afl'air 
the Americans lost, in killed and wounded, a])out 
fifty men ; the British loss exceeded double that 
number. 

On the night of the 20th of September, five 
days after the enemy had taken possession of 
New York amid the acclamations of their nume- 
rous partisans, a fire broke out in the city, by 
which Trinity Church and nearly one tliousand 
houses were laid in ruins. The origin of the 



272 HISTORY or new york. [1776. 

disaster was at first charged upon the " Sons of 
Liberty," some of whom, in the passionate frenzy 
of the moment, were seized and thrust into the 
flames. Subsequent reflection has, however, led 
to the belief that the fire was purely accidental. 
The American lines on Harlem Heights being 
found too strong to be forced by assault, the two 
armies lay inactive for three weeks within sight 
of each other ; but Admiral Howe having a se- 
cond time succeeded in forcing the obstructions 
to his progress in the Hudson and East rivers, 
the British troops broke up their encampment, 
and embarking on board of flat-boats, sloops, 
and schooners, landed on the 12th of October 
at Frogs' Point, about nine miles above Harlem. 
These military and naval movetnents having the 
effect of cutting ofi* the American supplies by 
way of the river, Washington resolved to aban- 
don York Island, leaving behind him in garrison 
at Fort Washins^ton two thousand men under 
Colonel Magaw. The main body of the Ameri- 
rican army fell back to Kingsbridge, where a 
part of the forces were left to throw up intrench- 
ments, in order to protect the baggage and 
stores, and to retard the advance of the enemy. 
With the advanced division Washington pro- 
ceeded to White Plains. Toward the end of 
October, the whole army was concentrated at 
this point, occupying a position well chosen for 
defence, and strongly fortified. Howe followed 



177G.] CAPTURE OF FORT WASHINGTON. 273 

up closely the retreating army. On the 27th 
of October he attacked McDougal, who was in 
command of a strong detachment on the right 
of the American camp. The militia, making 
but a feeble resistance, were soon put to flight, 
with a loss, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of 
nearly four hundred men. After this success of 
the enemy, Washington expected an immediate 
assault upon his lines ; but, for reasons which 
have never been divulged, Howe paused in his 
advance until he should receive a reinforcement 
of six additional battalions. His delay was im- 
proved by Washington in removing to a stronger 
position two miles in his rear ; and Howe, hesi- 
tating to risk a battle at this period, moved 
down the river with his forces to the neighbour- 
hood of Kingsbridge. Here he made his dispo- 
sitions for an attack on Fort Washington. 

The necessary boats having been procured, the 
assault was made in four divisions on the morning 
of the 16th of November. The defence was main- 
tained for several hours witli great vigour and 
resolution ; but the outworks being at length 
forced, the men were driven back into the fort. 
Finding tliemselves thus closely invested l)y a 
vastly superior force, the garrison soon after con- 
sented to terms of capitulation, by whicli nearly 
three thousand men — including the reinforce- 
ments sent over by Greene from Fort Lee — sur- 
rendered themselves prisoners of war. 



274 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1776. 

The unexpectedness of this severe blow led to 
the hasty abandonment of Fort Lee, with all its 
artillery, ammunition, and stores. The next 
movements of the enemy indicating an intention 
to occupy New Jersey, and from thence push on 
to Philadelphia, Washington crossed the Passaic 
with five thousand men, leaving Lee, with dis- 
cretionary powers, in command of nearly an 
equal number at White Plains. Another divi- 
sion, under General Heath, was stationed on 
both sides of the Hudson to defend the passes 
of the Highlands. Retiring slowly before his 
victorious enemy, Washington commenced his 
celebrated retreat through the Jerseys. With 
daily diminishing numbers, he crossed the Eari- 
tan to Brunswick, which he entered, on the 28th 
of November, with less than four thousand men. 
Marching from thence, but without loss, though 
closely pursued by the British advance under 
Cornwallis, he proceeded to' Trenton, where he 
crossed the Delaware in the early part of De- 
cember, and took up a position on the western 
bank of that river. 

While the forces under Washington were being 
beaten at all points upon the southern border of 
New York, the northern army under Gates was 
scarcely in a less precarious condition. Upon 
the approach of Carleton from Canada, who fol- 
lowed rapidly the retrogression of the invading 
army, Crown Point was abandoned as untenable, 



177G.] BATTLE OX LAKE CIIAMPLAIN. 275 

the attention of Gates being wholly directed to 
strengthening the fortress at Ticonderoga. The 
Americans liaving captured or destroyed in their 
retreat all the vessels upon Lake Champlain, 
Carleton was compelled to halt his army at the 
foot of the lake, until the necessary water craft 
could be obtained. Toward the close of summer 
he succeeded in getting together five vessels of a 
larger size than any composing the fleet of Ar- 
nold, besides twenty smaller craft, and a num- 
ber of armed boats. AVhcn he had manned this 
formidable flotilla with seven hundred seamen 
from the ships in the St. Lawrence, he set out in 
search of the American fleet. In the engage- 
ment which followed, on the 6th and 7th of Oc- 
tober, Arnold lost eleven of his ships, and ninety 
men ; the remainder, with great difficulty, suc- 
ceeded in obtaining shelter beneath the guns of 
Ticonderoga. Having, by this victory, gained 
command of the lake, Carleton took possession 
of Crown Point, from whence, on being joined 
by his army, he threw out his advanced parties 
as far as Ticonderoga. Gates, liowever, in the 
meanwhile, had received large reinforcements of 
militia; and Carleton, fearing to risk an assault 
upon a fortress garrisoned by eight thousand 
men, withdrew his forces from the lake on the 
approach of winter, and returned to Canada. 



2T6 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

New York Congress — State government established — Cam- 
paign of 1777 — Howe's movements — Battle of Brandywine 
— Of Germantown — Burgoyne's invasion — His successful 
advance — 'Takes possession of Ticonderoga — Retreat of St. 
Clair — Evacuation of Skenesborough — Of Fort Anne — 
Weakness of the northern army under Schuyler — Fort 
Edward abandoned — Schuyler crosses the Hudson — Ad- 
vance of Burgoyne — Fort Schuyler besieged by St. Leger — 
Bloody skirmish with Herkimer — Death of Herkimer — Ar- 
nold advances to the relief of Fort Schuyler — Success of his 
stratagem — St. Leger deserted by the Indians — Breaks up 
the siege — Battle of Bennington — Defeat of Baum and Brey- 
man — Schuyler superseded by Gates — Condition of Burgoyne 
— Crosses the Hudson — First battle of Behmus's Heights — 
Second battle of Behmus's Heights — Retreat of Burgoyne to 
Saratoga — Provisions captured on the Hudson — British 
council of war — Surrender of Burgoyne. 

During the whole of the disastrous campaign 
of 1776, the provincial congress of New York 
had exerted themselves, with considerable suc- 
cess, to repress the spirit of the Tory popula- 
tion ; and by judicious but energetic measures 
prevented them from taking up arms and openly 
joining the British standard. 

The establishment of a state government hav- 
ing become necessary, a convention of delegates 
assembled at Kingston on the 20th of April, 
1777, and adopted "the first American constitu- 
tion that gave the choice of governor to the 



1777.] BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 277 

people." On the 3d of July following, Briga- 
dier-General George Clinton was elected to fill 
that important office. 

The early part of 1777 was wasted by Howe 
in dilatory movements, having for their object 
the capture of Philadelphia. Putting at length 
his forces in motion, he sailed down the Dela- 
ware, and entering the Chesapeake, landed at 
the head of Elk. From thence he commenced 
his march upon the capital of Pennsylvania. 
Routing the American forces posted to intercept 
him on the banks of the Brandywine, he followed 
up the retreating troops ; and after surprising 
Wayne in a night attack near Paoli, entered the 
city of Philadelphia on the 25th of September. 
The main body of the enemy being encamped at 
Germantown, Washington withdrew his forces to 
Skippack Creek, about fourteen miles distant. 
Having soon after ascertained that the British 
army had been ^veakened by detachments, AVash- 
ington determined to seize the opportunity of 
attacking the camp at Germantown. Marching 
by four different routes, on the night of the Sd 
of October, he succeeded at first in gaining an 
advantage over the enemy ; but reinforcements 
arriving, and a thick fog coming on, the Ameri- 
cans were eventually obliged to retreat, with a 
loss, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of over 
one thousand men. 

But it was not so much upon the military 

24 



278 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 

operations on the Schuylkill or the Delaware, 
that the hopes of the British ministry rested for 
success in the campaign of 1777, as upon an in- 
vasion from Canada by General Burgoyne. The 
plan arranged by that active officer was, to 
march with a strong force by way of Lake 
Champlain, and, after capturing the frontier 
fortresses in the hands of the Americans, ad- 
vance to Albany. From the latter point, he ex- 
pected to be able to obtain possession of the 
strong passes in the Highlands of the Hudson, 
by the co-operation of the British troops in New 
York ; five thousand men, under the command 
of Sir Henry Clinton, being stationed in and 
around that city. By this complete possession 
of New York, the New England states would 
have been efi'ectually cut off from all the pro- 
vinces south of the Hudson River. 

The march of Burgoyne was at first one series 
of triumphs. With an army of eight thousand 
British troops, and a motley array of boatmen 
and irregulars, he proceeded to Lake Champlain, 
where, after holding a council with the Six Na- 
tions, he was joined by four hundred of their 
warriors. As soon as he had received this ac- 
cession to his force, he proceeded to Ticonde- 
roga, before which he appeared on the 1st of 
July. Seizing a steep hill which overlooked the 
fort, he planted his artillery upon its summit, and 
made his preparations for an immediate attack. 



1777.] RETREAT OF ST. CLAIR. 279 

St. Clair, the American commander, having un- 
der him in garrison only three thousand men, 
all of Tvhom were indifferently armed and equip- 
ped, saw at once his inability to successfully 
contend with the force that had so unexpectedly 
appeared against him. No hope being left of 
saving the garrison but by an immediate retreat, 
he despatched his stores and baggage in batteaux 
to Skenesborough, and abandoning Ticonderoga, 
fell back with the troops overland, in the direc- 
tion of the same post. Ilis flight no sooner be- 
came known, than he was hotly pursued by a 
detachment of the enemy, eight hundred strong, 
commanded by General Fraser. The American 
rear-guard, consisting of three regiments num- 
bering about twelve hundred men, was overtaken 
tlic next day at Ilubbardton. One of the regi- 
ments taking to flight, the whole brunt of the 
battle fell upon the two remaining. These, ani- 
mated by the exhortations of Colonels Francis 
and AVarner, fought for some time with great 
bravery ; but when Frazer had received a rein- 
forcement of Germans under Reidescl, they 
broke and dispersed, leaving two hundred pri- 
soners in the hands of the enemy. The post at 
Skenesborough having been evacuated and burn- 
ed, and Fort Anne soon after sharing the same 
fate, St. Clair fell back upon Rutland ; but suc- 
ceeded at length, on the 1-ith of July, in joining 
Schuyler at Fort Edward. 



280 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 

Although at this period in chief command on 
the northern frontier, Schuyler had not been 
able to muster more than five thousand four 
hundred men, even when reinforced by the bro- 
ken garrisons from Ticonderoga, Skenesborough, 
and Fort Anne. With this weak force he could 
do nothing more than endeavour to retard the 
advance of the enemy, by breaking up the inter- 
vening bridges and causeways, and by obstruct- 
ing the navigation of Wood Creek. Upon the 
approach of Burgoyne, he evacuated Fort Ed- 
ward, and retreated across the Hudson to Sara- 
toga. 

While the victorious army of Burgoyne was 
thus advancing with firm and almost unimpeded 
steps into the interior of the state, a detachment 
under Colonel St. Leger, consisting of a mixed 
body of regulars, militia, and rangers, joined by 
a number of Indian warriors commanded by 
Brant, entered the western portion of New York, 
by way of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, 
and marching to the head of the ^lohawk River, 
laid siege to Fort Schuyler. As soon as General 
Herkimer was made aware of the approach of 
St. Leger, he assembled the militia of Tryon 
county, and advanced to the relief of the garrir 
son, which was composed of two New York re- 
giments, commanded by General Gansevoort. 
Having notified Gansevoort of his intentions, 
Herkimer marched carelessly toward the fort, 



1777.] FORT SCHUYLER BESIEGED. 281 

without any of those precautions Avhich the 
nature of the warfare he was engaged in should 
have admonished him to take. Near to the 
road, and at a distance of about six miles from 
the post he was advancing to relieve, a detach- 
ment of regulars under Colonel John Johnson, 
and a party of Indians headed by Brant, en- 
sconced themselves in ambush. After suffering 
the column to pass by, they suddenly fell upon 
the rear-guard, the Indians first pouring 'in a 
destructive fire, and then completing the panic 
by dashing upon the disordered militia with their 
spears and hatchets. Animated, however, by the 
conduct of Herkimer, the Americans succeeded 
in gaining a more defensible position, where they 
fought for some time with desperate courage. 
Herkimer himself, though mortally wounded, 
leaned for support against the stump of a tree, 
and continued to cheer the drooping spirits of 
his men. A well-timed sally from the fort, con- 
ducted by Colonel Willet, at length succeeded 
in changing the fortune of the day. I>y this 
diversion in their favour the militia succeeded 
in beating off the enemy ; but not before the 
Americans had sustained a loss of four hundred 
in killed and wounded, many of whom were lead- 
ing and influential men. 

Gansevoort refusing to surrender the fort, St. 
Leger proceeded to invest it in form. As tho 
safety of the post was of tlie first importance as 

2A^ 



282 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 

a means of overawing the Tories of that district, 
Schuyler despatched Arnold to its relief. The 
detachment of this daring though unscrupulous 
officer having been joined by a reinforcement of 
one thousand light troops under General Earned, 
Arnold lost no time in ascending the Mohawk ; 
but learning that Gansevoort was in extremity, 
he quitted the main body, and with nine hun- 
dred men, lightly armed, pressed forward by 
forced marches. As he continued to approach, 
he threw forward spies with exaggerated accounts 
of his numbers. The statements made by these 
men operated so effectually upon the minds of 
the Indians, who had already suffered severely 
in the affray with Herkimer, that a large part 
of them suddenly quitted the English camp, and 
fled into the woods. The remainder threatening 
to abandon him in like manner unless he retired 
from before the fort, St. Leger broke up the 
siege, and, hastily retreating, returned to Mon- 
treal. 

In the mean while, Schuyler, being greatly 
weakened by the detachments sent out under 
Arnold, withdrew to a stronger position among 
the islands at the mouth of the Mohawk. By 
this time Burgoyne had reached Fort Edward, 
on the east bank of the Hudson. From thence 
he despatched Colonel Baum to the neighbour- 
hood of Bennington, a small village in the pre- 
sent state of Vermont, for the purpose of mount- 



1777.] BATTLE OF BEXXIXGTOX. 283 

ing the German dragoons, and of collecting the 
means of transportation for the stores which had 
arrived at Fort George. The force ordered upon 
this service consisted of eight hundred men, ex- 
clusive of militia and Indians. A body of Xew 
Hampshire militia having lately arrived at Ben- 
nington under the command of Colonel Stark, 
the latter, as soon as he was advised of the ad- 
vance of Eaum, sent off for Warner's regiment, 
then encamped at Manchester, and for such other 
parties of militia as could be hastily collected. 

These ener^-etic movements alarmiufr Baum for 
the safety of his command, he halted, on the 14th 
of August, within six miles of Bennington ; and 
sending back to Burgoyne for reinforcements, 
commenced intrenching himself. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Breyman, with five hundred men, was 
immediately despatched to his assistance. The 
heavy condition of the roads, and the rain which 
fell during the ensuing day, retarded the ap- 
proach both of Warner and* Breyman. Some 
Berkshire militia, commanded Ijy Colonel Sim- 
mons, succeeding in joining Stark on the lOtli, 
the latter drew out his forces and advanced to 
the attack. As he came in sight of the enemy, 
he pointed them out to his troops. <' There are 
the red-coats," said he: "they must be ours 
before the sun goes down, or Sally Stark sleeps 
a widow to-night !" This pithy expression of 
his own determination gave extraordinary ani- 



284 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 

mation to the spirits of his hardy mountaineers. 
The assault was made simultaneously on front 
and rear of the intrenchments in four columns. 
After two hours' hard fighting, the militia and 
Indians abandoned the defences, and fled for 
safety to the woods. 

Colonel Baum received a mortal wound ; but 
the Germans continued to offer a vigorous resist- 
ance, until nearly the whole of them were either 
killed or disarmed. The victory was scarcely 
won before the reinforcements under Breyman 
arrived on the ground. A new engagement en- 
sued, which was continued until night, when 
Breyman, having expended his ammunition, re- 
treated with the loss of his artillery and baggage. 
The victory at Bennington threw into the hands 
of Stark six hundred prisoners, besides a large 
and much needed supply of small arms, together 
with four pieces of artillery. Two hundred of 
the enemy were left dead on the field. The 
American loss was inconsiderable, being only 
fourteen killed and forty-two wounded. 

The battle of Bennington formed the turning 
point in the fortunes of Burgoyne. Burning to 
revenge the cruelties committed by the Indians 
in the pay of the British, it needed but the un- 
expected success achieved by Stark to inspire 
the people with a determination to expel the in- 
vader. Volunteers soon began to flock into the 
camp of Schuyler from all quarters. Two bri- 



1777.] BATTLE ON BEHMUS'S UEIGIITS. 285 

gades arriving about the same time from the 
Highlands, the army was rapidly acquiring suf- 
ficient strength for effective operations. At this 
juncture the patriotic Schuyler, by reason of his 
unpopularity with the eastern troops, was super- 
seded in the chief command by General Gates. 

The retreat of St. Leger and the defeat of 
Baum left Burgoyne beset with difficulties. 
These difficulties were not lessened by the sub- 
sequent desertion of his Indian allies and Cana- 
dian followers. Still he determined to persevere. 
Breaking up his camp at Fort Edward, he cross- 
ed the Hudson on the 14th of September, and 
took up his line of march from Saratoga. "While 
Lincoln, with a body of militia, hovered upon 
the British, Gates advanced from his camp at 
the mouth of the Mohawk, and intrenched him- 
self at Behmus's Heights, a strong position 
overlooking the Hudson, three miles above 
Stillwater. 

On the 19th of September the light parties of 
the enemy approached so near to the American 
encampment, that Morgan was despatched with 
his riflemen to attack them. AVliile driving them 
before him, he unexpectedly encountered the 
British advance, and in turn was himself driven 
back. Successive reinforcements coining up on 
both sides, the action at length became general. 
The battle was continued with varying success 
until darkness separated the combatants. The 



286 HISTORY OF XEW YORK. [1777. 

Britisli claimed the victory, from maintaining pos- 
session of the ground ; but this equivocal honour 
lyas more than compensated by the loss they had 
sustained in the encounter. Nor was the dubious 
result of the first battle of Behmus's Heights the 
only source of anxiety to the British general. 
Two days previous to this, a detachment of Lin- 
coln's militia, led by Colonel Brown, captured 
the posts at Lake George, and, after receiving 
an addition to their force, proceeded to Ticon- 
deroga and invested it. Short of provisions, 
with his communications cut off, and opposed by 
an army constantly increasing in numbers, the 
situation of Burgoyne daily became more immi- 
nent. Could he have held out until a diversion 
had been created' from below by Clinton, he 
might yet have been relieved ; but the pressure 
of circumstances left him no alternative but to 
fio^ht or retreat. Li view of the former, he de- 
termined on a reconnoissance of the American 
lines. Placing himself, on the 7th of October, 
at the head of fifteen hundred men, he formed 
them in battle array within a mile of the Ameri- 
can camp. This was scarcely accomplished be- 
fore a furious attack was made upon his left by 
Poor's New Hampshire brigade. The grenadiers 
under Major Ackland met the assault with great 
gallantry and firmness. The fire of the Ameri- 
cans soon extended along the front, until the 
right wing was also im^Dlicated. The battle novr 



1777.] DEFEAT OF BURGOYNE. 287 

deepened. Gates, as usual with him, was not 
present in the field; but Arnold, though de- 
prived of his command through the jealousy of 
Gates, or his own insubordinate spirit, rode 
everywhere through the thickest of the fight, 
cheering on the men, and exhibiting in his own 
person an example of the most desperate bra- 
very. The British right, outflanked by the rifle- 
men under Morgan, at length gave way. A 
portion of the remaining troops being detached 
to cover the retreat of their companions, the left 
wing, overpowered by superior numbers, was 
compelled to yield the ground they had contested 
so long. Major Ackland was badly wounded 
and taken prisoner. General Frazer, while 
making the most active exertions to rally his 
men, also received a mortal wound from a rifle 
ball. Leaving six pieces of artillery in the 
hands of the victorious Americans, the whole 
detachment retreated to their camp. They had 
scarcely entered it before a body of troops, ga- 
thered by Arnold from all quarters of the field, 
pressed forvrard througli a tremendous shov.er 
of grape and musketry, and C(»iiimenced ;in as- 
sault upon the works. Arnold, sii])p()rtcd by a 
few daring men, desperately forced Ids way with- 
in the intrenchments ; but his horse being shot 
under him, and himself wounded, his followers 
fell back, bearing him with them. A much more 
important success attended the efforts of Lieu- 



288 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1777. 

tenant-Colonel Brooke. Leaving Arnold on his 
left, lie led Jackson's Massachusetts regiment 
against a redoubt occupied by the German re- 
serve, stormed it at the point of the bayonet, 
and utterly routing the enemy, maintained his 
conquest in spite of all the efforts of the British 
to compel him to relinquish its possession. 

Conscious of the insecurity of his position, in 
the face of an army far superior in numbers and 
already flushed with victory, Burgoyne silently 
abandoned his encampment in the night, and 
withdrew to the higher ground in the rear. The 
next day was exhausted in skirmishes. On the 
9th, fearful of being hemmed in, he retreated to 
Saratoga, with the intention of falling back upon 
Fort Edward ; but his communications with that 
place were already effectually cut off. Following 
up their success, the Americans next assailed the 
boats loaded with the only supplies and provisions 
yet remaining to the British army, and captured 
a considerable number. In this strait, with an 
army greatly reduced in numbers, with no hope 
remaining of being relieved by Clinton, and with 
only three days' provisions remaining, Burgoyne 
called a council of war. A capitulation being 
advised, the terms were finally agreed upon ; and 
on the 17th of October the shattered remains of 
the invading army, to the number of five thou- 
sand seven hundred men, surrendered themselves 
prisoners of war. 



1777.] ADVANCE OF CLINTON. 289 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Clinton's diversion in favour of Burgoyne — First meeting of the 
State legislature at Kingston — France and the United States 
— Effects of Burgoyne's surrender — Conciliatory propositions 
from Lord IN'orth — Treaty of alliance between France and the 
United Colonies — Howe abandons Philadelphia, and retreats 
to New York — Arrival of a French fleet — D'Estaing offers 
to co-operate in the reduction of Newport — Puts out to sea — 
Americans retire from before Newport — War on the frontiers 
— Massacre at Wyoming — American expedition against 
Unadilla — Indian incursion into Clierry V^alloy — Campaign 
of 1779 — Predatory incursions by the enemy — Capture of 
Stony Point by the British — Recapture by Wayne — Sulli- 
van's expedition against the Indians — Exploration and de- 
struction of the Indian villages in the Genesee Valley — 
Campaign of 1781 — South Carolina overrun by the enemy 
— Defeat of Gates — Arrival of Rochambeau at Rhode Island 
— Treason of Benedict Arnold — Execution of Andre — Vir- 
ginia ravaged by Arnold and Phillips — Operations of Corn- 
wallis — Battle of the Cowpens — Battle of Guilford Courthouse 
— Greene recrosses the Dan — Cornwallis enters Virginia — 
Takes post at Yorktown — Siege of Yorktown — Capitulation. 

Had it been possible for tlic invading army to 
have held out but for a short time longer, the 
campaign of 1777 might yet have terminated 
favourably for the British arms. AVhile the 
Americans were pushing their advantages to the 
utmost, Sir Henry Clinton, with three thousand 
men, was rapidly ascending the Hudson to tho 
relief of the embarrassed Burgoyne. On tho 
5tli of October he attacked Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery, which, after a brief defence, were 

25 



290 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1778. 

captured, with a loss to the Americans in killed 
and wounded of two hundred and fifty men. To 
General Putnam had been confided the charge of 
guarding the passes of the Highlands ; but he was 
compelled to fall back before the British advance, 
and retreat to Fishkill, leaving Peekskill, for- 
merly his head-quarters, together with Forts In- 
dependence and Constitution, in the hands of the 
enemy. The Tories under Tryon, and a strong 
detachment of regulars under Yaughan, ravaged 
and burned the shores of the Hudson almost with 
impunity. The surrender of Burgoyne at length 
put a stop to these wanton outrages. After as- 
cending the river to within sixty miles of Albany, 
the British forces returned to New York, bearing 
with them, from the captured forts, an immense 
supply of artillery and ammunition. 

Previous to these alarming movements on the 
part of Clinton, the first legislature of the state 
of New York assembled, on the 9th of Septem- 
ber, at Kingston, a small village on the banks 
of the Hudson. After organizing the govern- 
ment, appointing delegates to the general con- 
gress, and making provision for the defence of 
the country, the assembly adjourned. On the 
15th of January, 1778, the legislature met at 
Poughkeepsie, when an act was passed approving 
the articles of confederation as drawn up by the 
general congress, and authorizing the delegates 
from New York to ratify them. 



1778.] TREATY WITH FRANCE. 291 

It was at this period that France began to 
evince a disposition to assist the confederated 
colonies in their struggle for freedom. The 
American commissioners at Paris had been for 
many months vainly endeavouring to obtain 
something more than vague promises from the 
French ministry, when the surrender of Bur- 
goyne impressed Louis XIV., and Vergennes his 
minister, with more confidence in the final issue 
of the struf^de. 

This feeling was not weakened by the conduct 
of Lord North, the British minister, who, on the 
14th of February, introduced into parliament a 
plan for conciliating the colonies, by which the 
whole of the original ground of dispute was em- 
phatically surrendered. Fearful that the Ame- 
ricans, already deeply embarrassed by debts, 
divided to some degree among themselves, and 
resting more upon the justice of their cause than 
the strength of their armies, would conclude to 
accept the olive branch so tardily tendered them 
by the British minister, Vergennes, actuated less 
by a love of liberty than by a desire to sever from 
Great Britain her noblest dependencies, expressed 
his willingness to enter upon treaties of friend- 
ship and commerce, and of defensive alliance. 
On the 8th of February these treaties were con- 
cluded. Impressed with the danger that now 
menaced him, General Howe, fearing lest the 
Delaware should be blockaded by the arrival of 



292 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1778. 

a French fleet, at once evacuated Philadelphia, 
and retiring across the Jerseys, closely pursued 
by Washington, concentrated the whole of the 
British army at New York. He had scarcely 
reached there, before Count D'Estaing, in com- 
mand of a French fleet consisting of twelve ships 
of the line and four frigates, arrived ofi" the Dela- 
ware. Having on board four thousand troops, 
D'Estaing signified his willingness to co-operate 
in the reduction of Newport ; but being drawn 
out to sea in hopes of giving battle to the Bri- 
tish squadron under Admiral Lord Howe, the 
two fleets, shattered by a storm, were sepa- 
rated, and D'Estaing was compelled to put into 
the harbour of Boston to refit. The Americans 
under Sullivan, being thus deprived of the ser- 
vices of their powerful ally, after waiting for 
some time in the hope that D'Estaing would re- 
turn, abandoned the lines they had established 
with so much labour, and retreated from the 
island. The American forces under Washington 
were at this period encamped at White Plains ; 
but the remainder of the campaign was not 
marked by any military operations of importance. 
A desultory warfare along the frontiers was still 
kept up, the settlers being constantly called upon 
to contend against roving bands of Tories and 
Indians. The beautiful valley of Wyoming was 
laid waste in July of this year by a party of 
eight hundred rangers and Indians, under the 



1778.] INCURSION INTO CHERRY VALLEY. 293 

command of Colonel John Butler. Three hun- 
dred of the settlers were either killed or carried 
off into a captivity from which but few ever re- 
turned. The horrid barbarities practised by the 
Indians on this occasion excited throughout the 
provinces a feeling of intense indignation. 

During the month of October an expedition 
was organized against Unadilla, a settlement of 
Indians and refugees near the head-waters of the 
Susquchannah. The enterprise was completely 
successful ; the settlement was destroyed utterly, 
and its sanguinary inhabitants driven for refuge 
into the neighbouring forests. 

While these scenes were enacting, Captain 
Walter Butler, a son of that Colonel Butler who 
led the Tories at the massacre of Wyoming, after 
making his escape from the jail at Albany, ob- 
tained from his father at Niagara the command 
of two hundred rangers, and being joined by five 
liundrcd Indians under Brant, made a descent, 
on the 10th of November, upon the frontier set- 
tlement of Cherry Valley. The house of Colonel 
Samuel Campbell, which, by increasing the 
strength of its doors and windows, and by sur- 
rounding it with an embankment of logs and 
earth, had been converted into a rude fortress, 
was fortunately in a sufficiently defensive con- 
dition to enable its small garrison of Continen- 
tal troops to resist tlie attacks of the enemy ; 
but Colonel Alden, together with many of the 



294 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1779. 

villagers, and such of his command as carelessly 
lodged beyond the walls of the fort, fell victims 
to the fury of the savages. The settlement around 
was completely devastated. Sixteen of the gar- 
rison, and thirty-two of the inhabitants, princi- 
pally women and children, were killed. Between 
thirty and forty others were led away into a 
harsh and almost hopeless captivity. 

The closing portion of the campaign of 1778 
passed away without any military operations 
more memorable than the surprise and partial 
slaughter of Baylor's dragoons at Tappan, and 
of Pulaski's legion at Egg Harbour, by British 
detachments. At this period the numerical 
strength of the British and American armies 
was about equal ; but the former were concen- 
trated within the lines at New York and New- 
port, while the latter were considerably scattered. 
Too weak to undertake more active military 
operations, Washington pressed forward to a 
completion the important fortifications at West 
Point ; and after arranging all his disposable 
forces so as to form a line of cantonments be- 
tween Long Island Sound and the Delaware, re- 
sumed, for the winter, his old head-quarters at 
Middlebrook. 

The campaign of 1779 was productive of no 
decisive results on either side. During the 
month of May, the river counties of Virginia 
were harassed and plundered by a strong force 



1770.] RECAPTURE OF STONY POINT. 295 

of the enemy under General Matthews. After 
remaining in that province for a month, the ma- 
rauding party returned to New York with their 
spoils. Upon being rejoined by this detachment, 
Clinton ascended the Hudson in two divisions, 
and captured the American works at Verplanck's 
Point and Stony Point. Leaving a strong gar- 
rison to maintain the conquered posts, he fell 
back leisurely to New York. 

A predatory excursion was soon after under- 
taken by Tryon. New Haven was plundered ; 
Fairfield, Norwalk, and Green Farms were wan- 
tonly burned ; New London escaped the same 
fate only by tlic expedition under Tryon being 
suddenly recalled. The Americans had surprised 
Stony Point. 

The command of this daring enterprise had 
been intrusted by Washington to General Wayne. 
The design was well planned and admirably exe- 
cuted. Two columns, led by Wayne and Stew- 
art, each preceded by a forlorn hope and van- 
guard, appeared before the works about midnight 
of August IGth, and assaulting tliem from oppo- 
site sides, carried tliem witli great gallantry at 
the point of the bayonet. Fifty of the garrison 
were killed, and the remainder, one hundred and 
fifty in number, taken prisoners. Tlie American 
loss in killed and wounded amounted to about 
one hundred men. 

As Stony Point commanded the works at Ver- 



296 HISTORY or new york. [1779. 

planck's, preparations Avere immediately made 
for an attack upon the latter ; but the British 
appearing in force, Washington, fearing at that 
juncture to risk a battle, stripped Stony Point 
of its artillery and stores, and after dismantling 
its fortifications abandoned it to the enemy. 

In the mean while, an expedition had been 
organized to penetrate the country of the Six 
Nations, and avenge upon the tribes in alliance 
with the British the barbarities which had been 
committed upon the frontiers. The chief com- 
mand in this important enterprise was intrusted 
to General Sullivan, whose army was composed 
of four thousand Continental troops and one 
thousand militia. The latter, mainly made up 
of the first and third New York regiments, were 
commanded by General James Clinton. So soon 
as the entire force was concentrated, Sullivan 
marched from Tioga on the 26th of August, 
throwing out flanking troops on each side, and a 
corps of rangers in advance. After laying waste, 
on the 28th, the settlements at Chemung, the 
army bivouacked for the night. On the morning 
of the 29th they encountered a large force of 
Indians and Tories under Brant and Butler. 
These being utterly dispersed after a sharp and 
well-contested battle, Sullivan continued on his 
route until he had traversed the whole of the fer- 
tile valley of the Genesee, at that time the heart 
of the Indian settlements. Everywhere he went, 



1780.] CHARLESTON SURRENDERED. 297 

he cut down the orchards, destroyed the corn, 
and Laid the vilhiges in ruins. 

The country of the Onondagas, Cayugas, and 
Senecas being thus completely laid waste, those 
tribes, together with the refugees they had shel- 
tered, were driven back upon Niagara, where 
they became wholly dependent upon the English 
for supplies. Many of them never returned to 
their old homes ; but the spirit of revenge still 
animated their bosoms, and though checked for 
a season, they resumed, after a brief interval, 
their former savage inroads. 

The course of the war during the campaign of 
1780 rolled southward. Leaving Knyphausen to 
protect New York, Sir Henry Clinton, who had 
succeeded Howe in the chief command of the 
British-American forces, sailed with eight thou- 
sand men against Charleston, the capital of South 
Carolina. The city was surrendered after a brief 
defence, and General Lincoln, with five thousand 
American troops, became prisoners of war. The 
remainder of the province being speedily su])ju- 
gatcd, Clinton returned to New York, leaving 
Cornwallis with four thousand men to maintain 
liis conquest. 

Prompt in tlieir endeavours to recover so im- 
portant a province from the hands of the enemy, 
the exertions of Congress speedily resulted in 
the formation of a new southern army, the chief 
command of which was given to General Gates. 



i:v8 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1780. 

On the 16tli of August he encountered Cornwallis 
at Camden, but his forces were routed and dis- 
persed with great loss. 

At the north, the aspect of affairs was equally 
gloomy. During the month of July a powerful 
French fleet, having on board six thousand troops 
commanded by Count de Rochambeau, arrived 
at Rhode Island ; but were prevented, for some 
tirne, from co-operating with the army under 
Washington, owing to the rigorous blockade 
maintained by a superior naval force of the 
enemy. 

It was at this gloomy period of the war that 
Benedict Arnold was meditating treason against 
his country. Desperately brave, ambitious of 
distinction, but vain and utterly unprincipled, 
Arnold, for his eminent services in the battles 
which preceded the surrender of Burgoyne, had 
been elevated to that rank in the army to which 
he had long aspired, and, as a further testimony 
to his great military merits, had been intrusted 
with the command at Philadelphia. Gay com- 
pany and an extravagant style of living soon in- 
volved him in debts and difficulties, which were 
not lessened by the means he took to extricate 
himself. Charged by the civil authorities of 
Pennsylvania with resorting to improper means 
for the purpose of obtaining the moneys his ne- 
cessities were constantly requiring, he was at 
length tried by court-martial, found guilty on 



1780.] TREASON OF ARNOLD. 299 

two of the counts, and sentenced to be publicly 
reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. This 
wound to his vanity was deepened still more by 
the refusal of Congress to allow the entire amount 
of his claims against the United States, for sums 
alleged to have been expended by him during 
the expedition into Canada. Smothering his re- 
sentment, he opened a treasonable correspond- 
ence with Sir Henry Clinton through Major 
Andre, adjutant-general of the British army. 
About the same time he obtained from Washing- 
ton command of the fortress at West Point, with 
the deliberate design of betraying it into the 
hands of the enemy. In order to make the ne- 
cessary arrangements for consummating this act 
of treason, Andr<i was reluctantly prevailed upon 
to ascend the Hudson on board the sloop-of-war 
A^ilture, and to hold an interview with Arnold 
within the American lines. Day beginning to^ 
dawn before the conference was terminated, Ar- 
nold induced Andrd to go with him to the house 
of one Joshua H. Smith, where, after the busi- 
ness was concluded, the young officer remained 
concealed until the evening. The return to the 
Vulture being considered hazardous, Andr^, dis- 
guised as a citizen, with a pass from Arnold, 
and having Smith for his guide, set off on horse- 
back overland for New York. 

The next morning, after parting with Smith, 
he was intercepted, near a small brook about a 



300 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1780. 

mile north of Tarrjtown, by Paulding, Williams, 
and Van "Wart, three armed scouts, to whom, 
deceived by their replies, Andr^ avowed himself 
a British officer, travelling on pressing business. 
He was immediately seized. Rejecting indig- 
nantly the offers with which, on discovering his 
mistake, Andrd tempted his captors to release 
him, they instituted a search of his person, and 
having found papers of a suspicious character 
concealed in his stockings, they conducted him a 
close prisoner to Lieutenant-Colonel Jamison, 
who was in command at the nearest American 
outpost. Recognising the papers to be in the 
handAvriting of Arnold, yet unwilling to believe 
in the guilt of his superior officer, Jamison sent 
a messenger to Arnold, informing him of the ar- 
rest of Andre, who as yet was only known by his 
assumed name of Anderson ; while he despatched 
the papers found in the boots of the prisoner by 
an express to Washington, then in the act of re- 
turning from Hartford to West Point. 

Two or three hours before Washington arrived, 
the letter from Jamison relating to his prisoner 
was put into the hands of Arnold. Instantly 
aroused to a sense of his danger, the guilt- 
stricken traitor rose hurriedly from the table, 
and excusing himself to his guests, hastened to 
the river, where he flung himself into his barge, 
and passing the American forts waving a white 
kerchief, the usual signal of a flag-boat, took re- 



1781.] EATTLE OF THE COWPENS. 301 

fuge on board the Vulture, "syliicli still remained 
at anchor in the river. 

The case of Andr^ excited the profoundest 
commiseration, even in the breasts of his judges. 
Young, generous, accomplished, and of high rank 
in the British army, he had beer reluctantly in- 
duced to remain -within the American lines, and 
to assume that disguise and false character by 
which, forfeiting his right to be treated as a pri- 
soner of war, he subjected himself to the sum- 
mary and ignominious punishment that military 
usage accords to the common spy. In spite of 
the earnest entreaties of Sir Henry Clinton, he 
was sentenced by a court-martial to be hanged ; 
and his execution took place at Tappan on the 
2d of October. 

The campaign of 1781 opened at the south. 
While Virginia was again suffering greatly from 
predatory incursions led by Phillips and the 
traitor Arnold, Cornwallis prepared to invade 
North Carolina. General Greene, who had su- 
perseded Gates in command of the American 
army in the south, was gradually collecting a 
force sufficient to resume active operations. 
Morgan, with a strong detachment, being sta- 
tioned in the western part of South Carolina, 
Cornwallis despatched the impetuous Tarleton to 
bring him to battle. At Tarleton's approach, 
Morgan fell back to the Cowpens, where, on the 
17th of January, he made a determined and suc- 
26 



802 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1T81. 

cessful stand. The British, one thousand in 
number, were defeated with great loss. Tarleton 
himself was wounded, and narrowly escaped cap- 
ture during his subsequent flight. Foiled in his 
attempt upon Morgan, Cornwallis now turned in 
pursuit of Greene, and, after a long series of 
manoeuvres, a battle was fought on the 8th of 
March at Guilford Courthouse, in which the Bri- 
tish were victorious. Greene retreated for safety 
across the Dan ; but as soon as Cornwallis had 
retired toward Wilmington, Greene repassed the 
Dan, and boldly leading his forces into South 
Carolina, advanced upon Camden, where Lord 
Rawdon was in command of the British outposts. 
On the 25th of April the latter attacked Greene 
at Hobkirk's Hill, and, after a sharp contest, the 
Americans were compelled to give way, retiring 
in good order to Rugeley's Mills, where they en- 
camped. In the mean time, Lee and Marion had 
succeeded in breaking the British line of commu- 
nication north of the Santee by the capture of 
Fort Watson. They next laid siege to Fort 
Motte, and Rawdon, finding himself compelled 
to concentrate his forces, abandoned his whole 
line of posts, and fell back to Eutaw Springs. 
The battle which was fought at this place on the 
8th of September determined him to retire be- 
hind the stronger defences at Charleston. 

In the mean while, Cornwallis, finding it im- 
possible to overtake Greene, left the defence of 



1781.] CORNWALLIS AT YORKTOWN. 303 

South Carolina to Rawdon, and pushed rapidly into 
Virginia. Lafayette was at once despatched with 
a corps of twelve hundred men to oppose him; 
but his force was too weak to offer any effectual 
resistance. The army of Cornwallis, swelled by 
reinforcements from New York, amounted at 
this time to eight thousand men. Retiring from 
Richmond as the enemy advanced, Lafayette fell 
back toward the Rappahannock, where he formed 
a junction with Wayne, who, with one thousand 
troops of the Pennsylvania line, had marched to 
meet him. 

While these movements were in progress, Clin- 
ton, becoming apprehensive that Washington and 
Rochambeau would attack New York in concert 
with a French fleet expected to arrive in August, 

sent instructions to Cornwallis to select a stronrr 

o 

position upon the seaboard, and hold himself in 
readiness to embark at any moment. In obe- 
dience to these orders, Cornwallis retired across 
the James' River to Yorktown, where he forti- 
fied himself as strongly as the situation would 
admit. 

New York was indeed tlie original point se- 
lected for attack by Washington ; but learning 
subsef[uently that De Grasse intended sailing 
with his fleet f(jr the Chesapeake Bay, he altered 
his plan of operations, and resolved to attempt 
the capture of Cornwallis. Before Sir Henry 



304 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1781. 

Clinton was aware of this design, the combined 
French and American forces had marched with 
great secrecy and expedition overland to the 
head of Elk, and embarking in transports already 
collected there, formed a junction soon after with 
Lafayette at Williamsburg. 

The retreat of Cornwallis by water having been 
effectually cut off by the French fleet which oc- 
cupied the mouth of York River, on the 6th of 
October the siege of Yorktown was commenced. 
After defending the place with great spirit and 
resolution, Cornwallis proposed a cessation of 
hostilities ; and the terms of capitulation being 
at length agreed upon, the garrison, to the num- 
ber of seven thousand men, surrendered them- 
selves prisoners of war. 

With the capitulation at Yorktown the war of 
the Revolution may be said to have ended. 
Skirmishes between foraging parties, and occa- 
sional enterprises conducted by spirited partisan 
corps, still indeed took place ; but England had 
grown heartily weary of the war. Propositions 
for negotiation soon followed. On the 30th of 
November, 1782, provisional articles of peace 
were agreed to by commissioners respectively 
appointed for that purpose. From the 19th of 
April, 1783, hostilities ceased entirely; and on 
the 30th of September the independence of the 
colonies was formally acknowledged and ratified. 



1783.] NEW YORK EVACUATED. 305 

On the 25th of November the British troops 
evacuated New York ; and from that date not a 
single hostile soldier remained in arms in any 
portion of the disenthralled American provinces. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

A national convention called — Influence of New York — Action 
of the state in regard to the import duties — Meeting of the 
national convention — Adoption of the Federal Constitution — 
Action of the Anti-Federalist party in New York — Popular- 
ity of Clinton — J^ierce party feuds — Jay elected governor — 
Reception of his treaty with Great Britain — Hamilton insulted 
— Re-election of Jay — Foreign relations of the United States 
— Alien and Sedition laws — Clinton elected governor — Aaron 
Burr — His quarrel with Hamilton — Death of Hamilton — 
Proscription of Burr — His western journeys — His arrest, 
trial, and acquittal — Subsequent life — Increasing foreign dif- 
ficulties — British orders in council — Berlin and Milan decrees 
— American Embargo Act — Collision between the frigate 
President and British sloop-of-war Little Belt — War declared 
— Ill success of the American forces at the north — Important 
naval victories — Americans defeated at the River Raisin — 
Capture of York, Upper Canada — Forts George and Erie 
abandoned by the British — Defeat of Boerstler — Victory at 
Sackett's Harbour — Perry's victory on Lake Erie — Naval 
successes and disasters — Battle of the Thames — Defeat of 
the Creeks by Jackson — Battles of Chippewa and Bridge- 
water — Capture of the Capitol — Death of lioss — Battle of 
Plattsburg — McDonough's victory on Lake Champlain — 
Battle of New Orleans — Peace declared. 

The peace of 1783 found the United States 
staggering under a burden of debts from ^vhich 
there was no hope of a speedy relief. The abi- 
lity to maintain the independence which had just 

26- 



806 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1787. 

been acquired at so much cost and bloodshed was 
also doubted by many reflecting minds, who, see- 
ing the inadequacy of the old articles of confede- 
ration to perpetuate an harmonious union, were 
disposed to regard as impracticable the attempt 
to construct a more perfect scheme of confedera- 
tion. Others, however, were more sanguine. Act- 
ing on the suggestion of certain commissioners 
from several states of the Union, who met at 
Annapolis in September, 1786, Congress, during 
the month of February, 1787, recommended that 
a convention of delegates should be held at Phi- 
ladelphia on the second Monday of the succeeding 
May, for the purpose of revising the articles of 
the confederacy. From the selection of delegates 
to this important convention emanated the Re- 
publican and Federal parties. 

The influence of the growing power of New 
York was now about to be felt. Already, as 
early as 1781, the state legislature had granted 
the import duties of New York city to the 
United States, giving to Congress full authority 
to levy and collect the same, and to appoint the 
necessary ofiicers. This act was modified in 
1783 ; the general government still received the 
duties as before, but the power to appoint the 
collectors and other officers was assumed by the 
state. In 1786 the act was still further altered, 
so as to give the state the sole power to levy and 
collect the duties ; but still placing the revenues 



1787.] MEETING OF NATIONAL CONVENTION. 307 

thus acquired at the disposal of Congress. This 
law Congress refused to acknowledge, and re- 
quested Governor Clinton to call an extra ses- 
sion of the legislature, in order that the question 
might be reconsidered. Disclaiming all power to 
convene the assembly, except under extraordinary 
circumstances, Clinton declined, stating his rea- 
son for so doing to the legislature of 1787. Gene- 
ral Alexander Hamilton, a steady advocate of a 
strong national government, and subsequently to 
become so well known as the bold and able de- 
fender of the Federal Constitution, was at this 
period a member of the assembly. As chairman 
of the customary committee, he prepared an an- 
swer to the governor's opening speech, in which 
he rigidly refrained from any comment upon 
Clinton's refusal to call an extra session. This 
roused the friends of the latter, who offered an 
amendment approving the course of the governor, 
which, after an animated debate, was carried by 
a large majority. Having decided to send dele- 
gates to the general convention at rhiladeli)liia, 
Hamilton, Yates, and Lansing were a])]>ointcd, 
but with their course of action bounded by par- 
ticuhar instructions. 

The national convention met at riiihidelpliia 
at the appointed time, and on proceeding to the 
business before them, commenced a discussion of 
three separate plans, presenting marked differ- 
ences from each other. The hrst proposed an 



308 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1788. 

enlargement of the powers of the confederacy ; 
and it was this plan for which the delegates from 
New York were instructed to vote. Its rejection 
being determined upon by the agreement of a ma- 
jority of the members to adopt a new form of go- 
vernment, Yates and Lansing withdrew from the 
convention ; but Hamilton determined to risk the 
censure of his constituents by placing himself at 
the head of a second party, who strongly advo- 
cated the plan of a purely national government. 

<' The Virginia plan," which was the third, was 
calculated to conciliate the prejudices of both ex- 
tremes, by offering a frame of government partly 
national and partly federal. The constitution 
formed upon this plan was finally adopted, though 
not without many ominous misgivings on the part 
of those delegates who reluctantly voted for it. 

The Anti-Federalists in New York immediately 
arrayed themselves in strong opposition. They 
denounced the new constitution as crippling the 
state sovereignties, and establishing a central 
government with powers so extensive as to en- 
danger the permanence of the republic. The 
Federalists, with Hamilton at their head, entered 
upon an able defence ; and at the legislative ses- 
sion of 1788 it was resolved upon to call a con- 
vention of delegates fresh from the people, for 
the purpose of ratifying or rejecting the new 
constitution. 

The election took place at the appointed time, 



1788.] THE COXSTITUTIOX ADOPTED. 309 

and on the 18tli of June, 1788, the convention 
Tvas organized by the appointment of Governor 
Clinton as president. 'After a protracted dis- 
cussion, continued through three weeks, Mr. Jay, 
on the 11th of July, moved "that the constitu- 
tion be ratified ; and that whatever amendments 
might be deemed expedient should be recom- 
mended." The Anti-Federalists strongly ob- 
jected to the passage of any such resolution; 
but, while the discussion was still warm, tidings 
were received that New Hampshire had ratified 
the constitution ; and as nine states, the number 
necessary to its adoption, had thus already sig- 
nified their assent, the action of New York was 
now a matter of but little moment. After enter- 
taining, briefly, the question whether they should 
ratify the instrument or recede from the Union, 
they came to the conclusion to accept Jay's re- 
solution, altered in such a manner as to express 
their "full confidence" that the amendments to 
the constitution, as recommended by the conven- 
tion, would be adopted by the national Congress. 
So warm a contest between the Federalists and 
their opposcrs naturally engendered some bitter- 
ness of feeling, which the ratification of the con- 
stitution did not wholly allay. Governor Clinton, 
the most popular man in the state, was decidedly 
averse to the surrender of so much power to the 
general government, and his adliercnts pertina- 
ciously persisted in entertaining a similar opinion. 



310 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1792. 

At the October session of the legislature in 1788, 
Clinton, in his opening speech, recommended the 
assembly to favour a call for a second national 
convention, for the express purpose of revising 
the new constitution. But the feverish excite- 
ment gradually passed away. "Washington had 
been elected President of the United States, and 
so long as he remained at the head of the gene- 
ral government, the people were well satisfied that 
their liberties were secure. 

By the extraordinary force of his personal po- 
pularity, Clinton was re-elected governor in 1788, 
over Yates, the Federal candidate ; and at the 
election of 1792, notwithstanding the growing 
strength of the Federal party, he triumphed in a 
similar manner over Mr. Jay, a gentleman greatly 
beloved, and of a moral character singularly pure. 
The election had, however, been very closely con- 
tested ; so closely, indeed, that Clinton was said 
to have owed his re-election to the legislative 
committee to whom the votes for governor were 
referred, the voice of a majority of the state 
electors being in favour of Mr. Jay. This charge, 
publicly made, created a feeling of intense indig- 
nation throughout the state. Fierce party quar- 
rels ensued; and as the passion deepened, the 
consequences might have been of the most seri- 
ous character, had not the popular leaders on 
both sides exerted themselves with praiseworthy 
activity to moderate the fury and vehemence of 



1795.] JAY BURNED IN EFFIGY. 311 

their respective partisans. Though at length the 
feud was allayed, it had not been without its ef- 
fect upon the fortunes of the Anti-Federal, or, 
as they now called themselves, the '^Republican" 
party. At the subsequent state elections the 
Federalists were in the majority; and in 1795 
they succeeded in electing Jay and Van Rensse- 
laer, as governor and lieutenant-governor, over 
Yates and Floyd, the Republican candidates. 

Two days after his election. Jay arrived at 
New York from his mission to England, where 
he had been sent, a year previous, for the pur- 
pose of negotiating a treaty with that power. 
This treaty soon became a most prolific source 
of contention. France, plunging into the san- 
guinary excesses which followed her successful 
revolution, had inoculated quite a number of 
those who belonged to the Republican party in 
America with a portion of her intensely-levelling 
and ultra-democratic principles. At the same 
time, the Federalists were accused of striving to 
promote a strong conservative policy, and of a 
still more obnoxious leaning toward the interests 
of Great Britain. 

"Within a week after the arrival of Jay at New 
York, the publication of his treaty with Great 
Britain changed the rejoicings with which he had 
been welcomed into the ])ittcrcst denunciations. 
In Philadelphia he was burned' in efligy ; and 
throughout the confederated states, wherever the 



312 HISTORY OP NEW YORK. [1795. 

French or Republican party was predominant, 
meetings were held to protest against the condi- 
tions of the treaty, and to vent fierce and unjust 
accusations against the now unpopular commis- 
sioners. In New York, Hamilton attempted to 
address the multitude in defence of liis friend, 
but a shower of stones compelled him to desist. 
The meeting, carried away by passion, assented 
to some angry resolutions, and then burned the 
obnoxious treaty in front of the governor's house. 

Fortunately, violent passions are usually brief 
in their duration. Jay quietly bent to the storm, 
and when it passed away gradually rose again, 
if not to the height of his old popularity, yet so 
near it as to be again elected governor in 1798, 
over Judge Livingston, the strongest Republican 
candidate. But, though defeated, the Republi- 
can party were everywhere gaining strength. 
Encouraged by the number of their American 
adherents, the rulers of the French republic had 
been for some time disposed to regard with a 
feeling allied to contempt the repeated com- 
plaints and protests of the general government. 
The relations between the two countries at length 
became critical ; and, in expectation of a war, 
Congress passed the well known Alien and Sedi- 
tion laws. 

By the Alien law, no foreigner could become a 
citizen of the United States under a residence of 
fourteen years. Such as had not been in the 



1798.] CLINTON ELECTED GOVERNOR. 313 

country more than two years might be ordered to 
leave it, if the president believed their presence 
prejudicial to the peace of the commomvcalth ; 
while all resident aliens, after a declaration of 
war, rendered themselves subject at any moment 
to be seized and incarcerated. 

The Sedition law, though limited in its opera- 
tion to three years, was equally stringent. Each 
person unlawfully combining or conspiring with 
others to resist the measures of the general go- 
vernment, or to impede any law of the United 
States, or to control the legitimate acts of any 
govcfimment officer, was made liable to a fine not 
exceeding five thousand dollars, and to a term of 
imprisonment ranging from six months to five 
years. 

Scarcely any amount of provocation would 
have justified the rigorous harshness of these 
laws. The legislatures of Kentucky and Vir- 
ginia, at the instance of Jefferson, passed resolu- 
tions denouncinn; them with «^reat acrimonv. The 
assembly of New York avoided taking part in tlie 
controversy ; but the elections of 1800 and 1801 
were doubtless aff'ectcd by it. The power of the 
Federalists was everywhere comf)lctely broken. 
Jeff'erson and Burr were elected President and 
Vice-president of the United States ; while George 
Clinton and Jeremiah A^an Rensselaer were cho- 
sen Governor and Lieutenant-governor of New 
York. 

27 



814 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1804. 

No marked political events occurred during 
the three succeeding years, although the excite- 
ment between the opposing parties was in no 
degree lessened. In 1804, Morgan Lewis, the 
Republican candidate for governor, was elected 
over Aaron Burr, who, being opposed by the 
Clintons and Livingstons, was rapidly losing his 
earlier political influence. It was at this period 
that the circumstances originated which led to 
the fatal duel between Hamilton and Burr. 

Lying under the imputation of intriguing 
against Jefferson in order to secure his own elec- 
tion to the presidency, Burr had lost in a great 
measure the confidence of his party. Failing to 
procure the regular nomination for Governor of 
New York, he sought and obtained an independ- 
ent one. He lost his election, notwithstanding 
he was supported during the canvass by a num- 
ber of the Federalists, much to the chagrin of 
Hamilton, although he took no active part to 
prevent it. 

Smarting under his recent defeat, which he 
attributed to the influence of Hamilton, Burr 
seized advantage of an expression in a letter 
written by Doctor Cooper of Albany, in which 
the latter assured his correspondent that Hamil- 
ton considered Burr as "a dangerous man, who 
ought not to be intrusted with the reins of go- 
vernment;" adding — " I could detail a still more 
despicable opinion which Hamilton has expressed 



1807.] TRIAL OF BURR. 315 

of Burr." Fastening on the -s^'ord " despicable," 
Burr immediately despatched a note to Hamil- 
ton, which the latter finally answered by declar- 
ing his willingness, under respectful questioning, 
to show that the language he had used was ap- 
plied solely to Burr's political, and not at all to 
his private character. Burr treated the reply 
as " a mere evasion," and reiterated his demand 
for satisfaction. Reluctantly, and in defiance of 
his openly-avowed principles, Hamilton accepted 
the challenge. The parties met, and Hamilton 
fell. 

From that moment the character of Burr was 
blasted for ever. Hated in New York, and in- 
dicted for murder in New Jersey, he proceeded 
to Philadelphia, where he took up his abode. In 
the spring of 1805 he started for the AVest, enve- 
loping his movements in great mystery. Return- 
ing to Philadelphia, he spent the winter of 1805 
and part of the summer of 180G in that city and 
in Washin^^ton ; but in Auf]rust he a^jain set out 
for the West. His treasonable designs eventually 
becoming apparent, he was arrested in the Tom- 
bigbee country on the 1st of March, 1807, and 
conveyed to Richmond for trial. 

The charge preferred against J>urr was that 
of treason against the United States, and of mis- 
demeanour in levying troops within a friendly 
territory for a revolutionary expedition against 
Mexico. No one doubted his guilt ; but as proof 



316 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1807. 

of an overt act, by two creditable witnesses, could 
not be produced, he was finally acquitted, and 
took passage the succeeding year for Europe. 
For four years he led a restless, wretched, wan- 
dering life, but in 1812 he suddenly reappeared 
in New York, and resumed the practice of the 
law. His death, at the age of eighty-one, took 
place on the 14th of September, 1836. 

In 1807 Daniel Tompkins was elected governor, 
over Morgan Lewis — both the candidates belong- 
ing to the Republican party. For two years pre- 
vious to this, the current of party feeling had been 
greatly imbittered by the critical condition of our 
foreign relations. During the progress of the long 
and bloody European war carried on by the allied 
sovereigns against the power of Napoleon, the 
Americans, as neutrals, were rapidly acquiring 
commercial importance by the great extension 
of the carrying trade. To annihilate this lucra- 
tive business. Great Britain adopted orders in 
council suppressing all commercial relations be- 
tween America and France. Napoleon retaliated 
by issuing his celebrated Berlin and Milan de- 
crees, which rendered American vessels trading 
to England subject to seizure and condemnation. 

These high-handed measures led to protests 
and remonstrances, which were received with 
cool indifference by both the belligerent parties. 
Depredations upon American commerce still 
continuing, an embargo was laid, for ninety 



1811.] NAVAL ENGAGEMENT. 317 

days, upon all vessels within the jurisdiction of 
the United States. The militia and volunteers 
■were at the same time called ujion to hold them- 
selves in readiness for service. The great dis- 
tress brought upon the mercantile interests of 
the country by the operation of the Embargo, 
led to its suspension until the next meeting of 
Congress, in July, 1808. In this year Madison 
succeeded Jefferson as president, and an act was 
passed by Congress which prohibited all inter- 
course with England, France, or any of their 
dependencies. 

The Federalists opposing a declaration of war, 
which the growing dislike to England seemed 
each day to render more inevitable, the Ilcpubli- 
can party again gained the ground they had 
previously lost by their support of the Embargo 
Act, and succeeded in 1810 in re-electing Tomp- 
kins for governor. Lieutenant-Governor Broome 
dying soon after, De Witt Clinton was appointed 
his successor. 

Opinions directly antagonistic, in relation U 
the right of impressment, had already compli- 
cated the existing difficulties between the United 
States and Great Britain, when, on the IGth of 
May, 1811, the frigate President, commanded 
by Commodore Rodgers, was fired into by the 
English sloop-of-war Little Belt. In the action 
which ensued, the British lest thirty-two men in 
killed and wounded. From this time all thought 

27* 



318 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1812. 

of preser\dng peace was abandoned ; the national 
indignation was fully aroused, and on the 20th 
of June, 1812, Congress authorized a declaration 
of war. 

The campaign opened disastrously. An at- 
tempt to invade Canada proved not only signally 
unsuccessful, but was followed by retaliatory 
movements on the part of the British. Detroit, 
and all the military posts in Michigan, were oc- 
cupied by the enemy. Hull ignominiously sur- 
rendered the forces under his command on the 
19th of August; and on the 13th of October an 
American detachment, one thousand strong, 
which had crossed the Niagara River, and at- 
tacked the British on the Heights of Queens- 
town, suffered a repulse ; and not being supported 
by reinforcements from the American side, were 
compelled to surrender. 

On the ocean, however, the navy of the United 
States proudly sustained the honour of the Ame- 
rican arms. Hull, in command of the Constitu- 
tion, captured, on the 10th of August, the Bri- 
tish frigate Guerriere. Three days afterward, 
Porter, in the Essex, captured the Alert. On 
the 17th of October the British brig Frolic sur- 
rendered to the Wasp, though both were retaken 
the same day by a British seventy-four. On the 
25th of the same month the frigate Macedonian 
surrendered to the United States; and on the 
29th of December the Java lowered her flag to 



1813.] MILITARY OPERATIONS. 319 

the Constitution, on this occasion commanded by 
Bainbridge. 

On the 4th of March, 1813, Madison was re- 
elected president. The operations on land still 
continued to terminate in the defeat of the Ame- 
rican forces. During the month of January they 
were signally defeated at Frenchtown, in the 
vicinity of the River Raisin, and many of those 
who had surrendered were subsequently massa- 
cred by the Indians. An invasion of Canada by 
General Dearborn was more successful. On the 
27th of April, York, the capital of Upper Canada, 
was attacked by General Dearborn, supported by 
a small naval squadron under Commodore Chaun- 
cey. After a brief defence, the garrison capitu- 
lated. This success was speedily followed by 
another. On the 27th of May, Commodore 
Chauncey attacked Fort George ; and, after set- 
ting fire to their magazines, the British retreated 
to Queenstown. Fort Eric was next abandoned ; 
but a detachment of Americans, five hundred and 
seventy in number, commanded by Colonel 
Bocrstler, fell into an ambuscade, and Avero com- 
pelled to surrender to the enemy. In the mean 
while, the British under Prevost had been re- 
pulsed in an attack upon Sackett's Harbour; 
and on the 10th of September suffered a still 
severer disaster in tlic defeat and capture of 
their squadron on Lake Erie, by Commodore 
Perry. 



320 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1814. 

In the intermediate conflicts at sea, the re- 
sults had not been always fortunate. On the 
1st of June the Chesapeake, commanded by the 
heroic Lawrence, had been taken by the frigate 
Shannon ; and during the following August the 
Argus had been captured by the British armed 
vessel the Pelican ; but the following month 
the British brig Boxer surrendered to the En- 
terprise. 

The tide of battle now began to turn with a 
steady persistence in favour of the Americans. 
General Harrison gained a decisive victory over 
Proctor at the battle of the Thames ; and during 
the summer of 1814 General Jackson defeated 
the Creeks in several pitched battles. On the 
3d of July General Brown crossed into Canada, 
and captured Fort Erie. On the next day he 
successfully repulsed the British at Chippewa ; 
and on the 25th of October the Americans fought 
at Bridgewater the bloodiest battle of the war. 
The loss on both sides was equally severe, but 
the Americans remained masters of the field. 

During the month of August, a British squad- 
ron sailed up the Potomac River, and disembarked 
six thousand men under Sir James Ross. Dis- 
persing the militia assembled at Bladensburg to 
obstruct his progress, Ross proceeded to Wash- 
ington, where he burned the Capitol. After 
committing various other excesses, which betray- 
ed more of the spirit of the Goth than of the 



1815.] BATTLE OF XEW ORLEANS. 321 

chivalric generosity of the modern soldier, lie 
retired to his ships. 

On the 12th of September the fleet reappeared 
in the Chesapeake, and made preparations to at- 
tack Baltimore ; but General Koss being killed 
in a skirmish at North Point, the detachment 
was recalled, and the project abandoned. 

On the northern frontier, one day previous to 
the above repulse. Sir George Prevost, with a 
force of fourteen thousand men, made a vigorous 
assault upon the American works at Plattsburg. 
The defence was conducted by General Macomb 
with so much resolution, that the British finally 
retired with a loss of twenty-five hundred men. 
Simultaneously with the attack upon Plattsburg, 
an engagement took place on Lake Champlain 
between the British and American fleets. After 
an action continued for more than two hours, 
the fire of the enemy was silenced. One frigate, 
one brig, and two sloops-of-war fell into the 
hands of the Americans, who from that time 
until the close of the war held undisputed com- 
mand of the lake. 

Hostilities between the two nations were 
finally terminated by the disastrous defeat of 
General Pakenham ])efore New Orleans, on the 
8th of January, 1815. The forces of the Bri- 
tish commander amounted to fifteen thousand 
men, while those of General Jackson did not 
number more than six thousand. These, how- 



322 HISTORY OF NE^Y YORK. [1815, 

ever, were judiciously covered by a breastwork 
of cotton bags, and otherwise strongly protected 
by the natural difficulties presented by the 
ground on each flank. In an attempt to storm 
these works. Sir Edward Pakenham fell mor- 
tally wounded. His troops, after three despe- 
rate efforts on the centre and each flank of the 
American line, fell back in disorder, with the 
loss of three thousand men. 

Two weeks pre\dous to this battle a treaty of 
peace had been signed at Ghent, and on the 
17th of February it was ratified by the president 
and senate. 



1811.] Clinton's aspirations. 323 



CHAPTER XXrV. 

Political aspirations of De Witt Clinton — The Tammany So- 
ciety — Its origin — Opposed to Clinton — Tompkins elected 
governor — Clioscn vice-president — Clinton governor — Con- 
struction of the Erie Canal authorized — Decline of the old 
Federal party — Origin of the " Bucktails" — Clinton re-elected 
governor — Van Buren chosen United States Senator — Revi- 
sion of the state constitution — Principal amendments adopted 
— Yates elected governor — Division of the Democratic party 
— Organization of the " People's party" — Removal of Clinton 
as canal commissioner — Re-elected governor — Subversion of 
the old political parties — Abduction of Morgan — ^.lasons and 
Anti-Masons — New organizations — Formation of the Whig 
and Jackson parties — DeathofCfovernor Clinton — Van Buren 
elected governor — Rise and decline of the " Workingman's 
party" — Throop elected governor — Marcy chosen — " Equal 
rights" party organized — How designated by the Whigs — 
Merged with the Democratic party — Marcy re-elected go- 
vernor — Financial embarrassments — Increasing strength of 
the Whigs — Seward elected governor — Party fluctuations — 
Bouck elected governor — Election of Wright — Anti-Rent 
disturbances — Their origin — Progress of the disaHcction — 
Tumults in Delaware county — Murder of the shorilT — Mili- 
tary called out — Arrest and imprison;nent of the rioters — 
Breach in the Democratic party — "Hunkers" and "Burn- 
burners" — Revision of the constitution — Voung elected go- 
vernor — Election of Fish — Conclusion. 

Before war wus declared, many of Madison's 
friends regarded his cautious policy in relation 
to the dispute with Great Britain as indicating a 
feebleness of purpose unworthy of his high posi- 
tion. Prominent among these was l)c Witt 
Clinton, who himself aspired to become a candi- 



324 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1816. 

date for the next presidency. His party, how- 
ever, were not disposed to countenance his am- 
bitious views. Various combinations were formed 
against him ; and, among others, he was opposed 
by the whole strength of the Tammany Society, 
a powerful association which was organized soon 
after the peace of 1783, in opposition to the 
Cincinnati Society. At first it was composed of 
prominent members of both political parties ; but 
it gradually took a more distinctive character, 
and in 1812, by a vigorous support of Madison 
against Clinton, materially contributed to the 
defeat of the latter. The members of the asso- 
ciation were, at this period, known as " Mart- 
ling's men," from holding their meetings in 
Martling's long room, since known as Tammany 
Hall. 

At the gubernatorial canvass of 1813, Governor 
Tompkins was re-elected. De Witt Clinton, who 
sought the nomination for lieutenant-governor, 
was again defeated by the opposition of the 
Tammany Society. In 1816 Tompkins and Tay- 
lor were again elected governor and lieutenant- 
governor; but the former having been chosen 
Vice-president of the United States early in the 
following year, the choice of the Democratic 
party, to fill the vacancy thus occasioned, fell at 
length upon De Witt Clinton. A most import- 
ant measure, as bearing upon the future pros- 
perity of the state, was passed at the session of 



1820.] CLINTON RE-ELECTED. 325 

1817. This was no other than the passage of 
an act authorizing the construction of the Erie 
and Champlain canals. To carry out this noble 
project a large loan was called for, the interest 
of which was provided for by certain specific 
taxes, and by appropriating to this particular 
use the rents of the valuable salt-springs at 
Onondaga. 

From this period, the power of the old Fede- 
ral party was broken. The Republicans also 
underwent a change in their organization. From 
an order of the Tammany Society, who wore in 
their hats the tail of a deer, arose the Bucktail 
party. The most prominent leader of this new 
party was Martin Van Buren, then rapidly ris- 
ing into notice as a sagacious politician. The 
differences between the Bucktails and Clinton- 
ians arose partly from the opposition of the for- 
mer to the proposed schemes of internal im- 
provement, and partly from a personal dislike to 
Clinton, whom they represented as haughty and 
impracticable. 

The elections of 1820 saw Clinton and Tomp- 
kins, both prominent Republicans, opposed to 
each other ; but although many of the old Fede- 
ralists supported the latter, Clinton, personally 
popular through his advocacy of internal im- 
provements, and further strengthened by the 
reiteration of certain charges improperly brought 
against Tompkins, was re-elected. It was never- 



326 HISTORY OP NEW YORK. [1824. 

theless evident that the Bucktail party were 
rapidly gaining strength. Its leader, Martin 
Van Buren, was the following year elected to 
the senate of the United States. At the legis- 
lative session cf the same year, the question of 
revising the state constitution was ordered to be 
laid before the people. A majority of over se- 
venty-four thousand voters being found in favour 
of a revision, the convention assembled at Albany 
on the 28th of August, 1821. Ex-Governor Tomp- 
kins was chosen president. The principal amend- 
ments adopted by the convention were, — the abo- 
lition of the old council of revision ; turning over 
the veto power to the governor ; the reduction of 
the governor's official term to two years ; the ex- 
tension of the franchise ; the remodelling of the 
judiciary; the election of sheriffs and county 
clerks by the people ; together with many other 
changes of less moment. In 1822 the new con- 
stitution of the state was ratified by a large ma- 
jority. In November of the same year. Judge 
Yates was elected governor, De Witt Clinton 
declining to become a candidate. 

The rapid numerical increase and conflicting 
preferences of the Bucktail, or, as it now called 
itself, the Democratic, party, in the winter of 
1823, threatened its own destruction. For the 
presidential nomination of 1824, Mr. Crawford 
was warmly sustained by the ^'Albany Regency," 
while many others of the Democratic party formed 



1825.] ERIE CANAL COMPLETED. 327 

a junction with the friends of General Jackson, 
or with those who supported the respective claims 
of Adams, Calhoun, or Clay. The custom of 
making presidential nominations in a congres- 
sional caucus was by this means broken down ; 
while, to weaken the influence of Mr. Van Buren 
and the Albany Regency upon the legislature, by 
whom the presidential electors were then chosen, 
a new faction was organized, which, calling itself 
" the People's party," advocated the right of the 
people to choose the presidential electors by a 
direct vote. To this new party Clinton and his 
friends immediately gave in their adhesion. 

At the legislative session of 1822 a bill was 
reported by the house, making the presidential 
electors elective by the people ; but it was thrown 
out by the senate. The defeat of this popular 
measure, being attributed to the influence of the 
Albany Regency, produced a storm of indigna- 
tion throughout the state ; which was increased 
by the removal of Clinton from the oflice of ca- 
nal commissioner, the duties of which he had 
faithfully performed without remuneration for a 
number of years. This proscription tended to 
elevate Clinton in the popular regard. At the 
election in November, 1824, he was chosen go- 
vernor by a majority of sixteen thousand, over 
Young, the orthodox Democratic candidate. 
The following year Clinton had the satisfaction 
of witnessing the completion of the Erie Canal. 



328 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1826. 

In 1826 he was again elected governor, though 
by a greatly diminished majority. 

It was a few weeks previous to this canvass 
that the United States were thrown into a con- 
dition of excitement so fierce and vehement, as 
led soon after to the entire subversion of the old 
political parties. This intense fervour arose 
from the abduction and supposed murder of Y\^il- 
liam Morgan, a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, by certain unknown persons, believed to 
belong to the same association. The evidence 
submitted at the subsequent trials showed that 
Morgan, a native of Virginia, took up his resi- 
dence in the town of Batavia in the summer of 
1823. Ranking high in the Masonic fraternity, 
his knowledge enabled him to prepare a book 
purporting to be an exposition of the secrets of 
that order. After several attempts had been 
unsuccessfully made to divert him from this his 
avowed design, a small party of Masons con- 
spired together to remove him ; and partly by 
force, and partly by the connivance of certain 
civil officers, themselves Masons, they succeeded 
in seizing Morgan and carrying him to old Fort 
Niagara, from whence, after a confinement of 
three days in the magazine, he disappeared sud- 
denly. The fate of Morgan was never positively 
known ; but although this mysterious abduction, 
with its dark result, was the work of a few reck- 
less Masons only, its criminality attached itself 



1828.] VAN BUREN CHOSEN GOVERNOR. 329 

to the wliole fraternity. At the local elections 
of 1827 the question of "Mason or Anti-Mason" 
sprang up, and in a little while the Anti-Masonic 
party swayed the political complexion not of New 
York alone, but of the whole confederacy. 

The old parties being thus broken up, new or- 
ganizations were attempted. Portions of the 
Federalists, Bucktails, and Clintonians coalesced 
for the purpose of advocating the nomination of 
General Jackson for the presidency. Other frag- 
ments of the same parties supported the preten- 
sions of Adams and Clay. New titles were 
respectively assumed, and from this period arose 
the Jackson, or National Republican, and the 
Whig parties. 

On the 11th of January, Governor De Witt 
Clinton expired suddenly, while sitting in his 
library. The customary testimonials of public 
respect were paid to his memory — a weak and 
very inadequate expression of gratitude to one 
whose able and earnest advocacy led to the adop- 
tion of those grand measures of internal improve- 
ment which have since added so greatly to the 
wealth and importance of New York. 

The election for governor in 1828 terminated 
in favour of Mr. Van Buren. Early the follow- 
ing year, being selected to occupy a seat in the 
national cabinet, the duties of the office thus 
left vacant devolved upon Lieutenant-Governor 
Throop. 

28* 



330 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1836. 

One other political party was organized during 
the year 1830, which fulfilled its purpose, and 
then was dissolved as suddenly as it arose into 
notice. This was called the '' Workingman's 
party," under whose auspices Throop was re- 
elected governor. In 1832 William L. Marcy, 
the Democratic candidate, was chosen governor, 
and again elected to the same office in 1834. 

In the course of the ensuing summer, the 
''Equal Rights party" was organized. It con- 
sisted of a detachment from the Democratic 
party, professedly opposed " to all monopolies, 
to bank-notes, and to paper currency as a circu- 
lating medium." By the Whigs it was soon 
designated as the Locofoco party, a title which 
was subsequently conferred upon the whole De- 
mocratic party when, in 1837, that wing of the 
latter which had proclaimed Equal Rights as a 
rallying cry reunited with those from whom, two 
years before, they had seceded. 

In 1836 Governor Marcy was again continued 
in office, by the large majority of thirty thousand 
votes over Mr. Bull, the Whig candidate. 

During this year occurred those fearful finan- 
cial embarrassments which resulted in the ruin 
of so many mercantile men, and in an utter 
stagnation of all kinds of business. This ter- 
rible crisis was charged, by the Whigs, to have 
grown out of the opposition of General Jackson 
to a recharter of the United States Bank ; to his 



1844.] PARTY FLUCTUATIONS. 331 

removal of the treasury deposites ; and to his 
specie circular of 1836, by which all moneys due 
the government were to be paid in gold and silver. 

Whatever may have been the cause of the dis- 
tressed condition of the country, as it occurred 
during a Democratic administration, it led many 
persons to join the ranks of the "VVhigs. In New 
York, the latter party, after maintaining for 
many years an unsuccessful contest, at length 
succeeded in electing their candidates. The 
Democrats throughout the state were everywhere 
defeated, William H. Seward being elected go- 
vernor, over Marcy, by some ten thousand ma- 
jority. 

Still gathering strength, the Whig party ac- 
chicved a greater triumph in 1840, by the elec- 
tion of General Harrison to the presidential 
chair, and in New York by the re-election of 
Governor Seward. 

The death of Harrison in the early part of 
1841, by placing Vice-President Tyler in the 
executive chair, proved seriously injurious to the 
Whig cause. In New York, the Democratic 
party, at the election of 1842, reassumed its old 
ascendency, Bouck and Dickinson being elected 
governor and lieutenant-governor, over Bradish 
and Furman, the Whig candidates. In the elec- 
tion of Wright and Gardiner to the same offices 
in 1844, the Democratic party still evinced an 
undiminished strenirth. 



332 HISTORY or new toek. [1844. 

Shortly after this election, the peace of the 
state became seriously disturbed, in several of 
the counties, bj popular tumults of an alarming 
character. These tumults had their rise in the 
resistance offered by certain tenants of lease- 
hold estates to the civil officers empowered to en- 
force the payments of rents. The cause of this 
serious outbreak had its origin in the early colo- 
nial times. It has been recorded in what way, 
during the Dutch supremacy, the manors known 
as Pavonia, Swanandael, and Rensselaerwyck 
were acquired. Similar grants were subse- 
quently obtained from the British crown. Some 
of these large proprietors partitioned off their 
lands and sold them, either to speculators or to 
actual settlers. Others established manors, and 
claimed the customary manorial rights and privi- 
leges. As lords of the soil, they granted per- 
petual leases of their lands, in preference to sell- 
ing them in fee, reserving certain annual rents, 
payable partly in produce, and partly in labour. 
The right to restrain was generally made a part 
of the contract, and the patroon or landlord re- 
tained by express stipulation the ownership of 
all water-powers and mines. For a long time 
these regulations were submitted to by the te- 
nants. At length, however, they began to grow 
restive under the restrictions by which they were 
encumbered. Some few acts of violence occurred 
in the years 1812 and 1813, which resulted in 



1844.] ANTI-RENT DISTURBANCES. 333 

the death of the sheriff of Columbia county ; but 
the agitation partially subsided, and with the ex- 
ception of occasional petitions to the legislature, 
asking for a change in the tenure of the lands, 
no absolutely violent disruption took place until 
1839. In this year, an attempt to collect the 
arrearages of rents due to the estate of Stephen 
Van Rensselaer, resulted in a combination of the 
tenants to resist the execution of process by the 
sheriff. The organization becoming of a mena- 
cing character. Governor Seward called out the 
military, and the tenants, ceasing to resist, con- 
sented to have their complaints adjudicated by 
the legislature. Nothing, however, was done by 
the members of that body, either on behalf of 
the tenants or to enforce the existing laws. Thus 
matters remained, with but little variation, until 
the winter of 1844 ; various bands of Anti-Rent- 
ers, disguised as Indians, having, during the in- 
termediate period, successfully impeded the exe- 
cution of the laws, though without resorting to 
actual violence. The contest now began to as- 
sume a political com})lexion. Certain newspapers 
defended the course of tlie Anti-Renters, and 
candidates were nominated for public offices be- 
cause of their known synipatliy for tlic insurgents. 
In December, several seriou:^ outrages being com- 
mitted Ijy the ^^ Indians," the legislature took 
cognisance of them so far as to pass an act to 
prevent persons from a])pcaring armed or in dia- 



334 HISTORY OP NEW YORK. [1846. 

guise ; and authorized the governor to call out 
the military at any time he might think proper. 

For a short time the excitement smouldered ; 
but in the summer of 1845 nearly the whole 
county of Delaware was in a state of riot and in- 
subordination. On the 7th of August the sheriff 
of that county, while in the execution of his duty, 
was murdered by a party of Anti-Renters. Go- 
vernor Wright at once declared the county in a 
state of insurrection, and despatched thither a 
military force to overawe the rioters. Many of 
the latter being arrested, and sentenced, upon 
subsequent trial, to various terms of imprison- 
ment, order was restored throughout the Anti- 
Rent region. A law passed by the legislature 
at the session of 1846, abolishing distress for 
rent, and taxing the incomes of the landlords, 
removed to a considerable degree all subsequent 
cause of complaint. 

In the mean time, a serious breach had occur- 
red between various influential members of the 
Democratic party, which, finally widening, led to 
separate organizations. The two factions thus 
created were soon after known as the " Hunkers" 
and "Barnburners." 

A state convention to amend the constitution, 
having already received the assent of the peo- 
ple, met at Albany on the 1st of June, 1846. 
Under the provisions of the new constitution, 
nearly all the officers previously appointed by 



1848.] CONCLUSION. 335 

the governor were made elective by the people ; 
feudal tenures, and all the restraints previously 
existing on the alienation of lands, were abolished. 
No lease having more than twelve years to run, 
in which rent or service were reserved, was de- 
clared to be valid. Important changes were 
made in the judiciary system, and the elective 
franchise was extended to all free white male 
citizens ; the old clause with respect to the co- 
loured population being retained. 

In the gubernatorial canvass of 184G, Young, 
the Whig candidate for governor, was elected 
over AVright by about eleven thousand majority. 
During the two following years, the Whigs re- 
peatedly succeeded in their judicial and other 
elections, owing, in a great measure, to tlic want 
of unity among the various members of the De- 
mocratic party. A similar success attended the 
former at the elections of 1(S48, Avhen Fi.^h, tlie 
Whig candidate, was elected governor by a large 
majority over Walworth, the Democratic nominee. 

With the year 1848 closes, for the present, 
this history of tlie great state of New York. 
Possessing an admirable geographical position 
for commercial purposes ; with a vast system of 
internal improvements, immensely valuable to 
the state, and e«[ually conducive to the prosper- 
ity of its citizens ; with a population increasing 
so rapidly as almost to defy calculation ; and 
with public schools nobly provided for and judi- 



336 HISTORY OF NEW YORK. [1848. 

ciously fostered, a wonderful future is before her, 
which, if accompanied by the exercise of those 
virtues that always attend upon true greatness, 
will command the admiration of other peoples, 
even more profoundly than the mystery of her 
present progress elicits their wonder. 



THE END. 



STEREOTTPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



LReJa30 



